The Romancer Onyxbane
by pooktales
Summary: Onyxbane, a warrior, must save his sister from being seduced by the dark Twilight's Hammer cult. But the women who love him keep complicating the mission. Will he fall for the girl next door, his exgirlfriend, or the older woman? Read and find out...
1. Diary of the traveling Nelf

**Episode 1: The Romancer Onyxbane: a male Night Elf with perhaps one too many women in his life**

(Disclaimer: This story is based upon a game called World of Warcraft. Therefore, I do not claim any rights to their story, or game.)

_Week three of our journey._

_I never kept a journal before, probably because a warrior looks very silly carrying a tiny decorated book around and hiding from his buddies to write in it the night before a battle. But, I thought about how important correspondence was to saving Willypearl's life, and now my sister's and I don't want to take any chances with the future. Maybe if I write down everything that happens to us while we are with the priestesses, maybe my sister will be that much safer when we find her._

_Well, I guess I should start at the beginning, since anyone who reads this will first need to know that I am a Kaldorei, or Night Elf, according to the humans and dwarves. Just in case this journal gets lost, take it to the Temple of Elune in Darnassus, because they know me very well there, since I was a kid, and they will know how to get it back to me._

_Oh, and there's probably a bunch of Onyxbanes in Azeroth. I cringe to think of how many orcs and dwarves alike have seen that stone, with a soul of absolute darkness, like a moonless night, and thought, 'If I'm going to pick a warrior name, I'd want to be someone as mysterious as this rock,' and then named themselves Onyxbane. It's a pretty natural chain of thought actually. But, I didn't choose this name for myself. My sister did. I don't remember her actual name or my own. I think my name began with an "S" or something like that, and I always called my sister sissy, since I was very little. My next memory, after seeing my parents dragged out of our house in Felwood by demons, was my sister taking my hand in the orphanage and making me swear that I'd name myself Onyxbane, meaning that I would avenge my dark-skinned father. She had already renamed herself Opalbane after our mother. She was crying back then, a lot, so when she screamed at me to do it, I was so afraid of her, I just did it. It was later that I saw how the new identities made my big sister feel better about losing our parents. Maybe she meant to avenge their deaths, but I was too young to understand something like that, and though I loved my parents, I didn't make that vow. Maybe that is how Opalbane grew up to be so bitter. Opalbane was diligent in her lessons to be a priestess because priestesses are the most powerful fighters to the Kaldorei, like Tyrande. I don't know that she liked learning to wear cloth and using the light to help others. I, on the other hand, always wanted to be a warrior, and took my time learning what kind of professions I liked. For example, Priestess Feathershine told Opalbane that alchemy was helpful to priests, and so she committed herself to that as soon as she found a trainer. Me, on the other hand, hated going around picking flowers only for them to crumple in my big hands like I was an oaf. So, I started putting my strong hands to work turning stones into shining weapons and armor I could use. I know what you're thinking. Many Kaldorei don't take to mining and blacksmithing, but I happen to like it. Opalbane always said I spent too much time around the humans. That's probably the reason I talk like one… err, write like one._

_That most likely also explains why I fell in love with a woman who turned out to be a rogue and a liar. Humans understand rogues. They, like the Kaldorei, understand the necessity for deception and subtlety. Neither of our races are above having someone assassinated…or turned into a wisp, if the situation is called for. But from my experience in Westfall, and that villain VanCleef, human rogues have no honor, they make up their own rules as they go along, and you're lucky if they stick to them. That's how the Defias got started as I understand it anyways. But we kaldorei must always act with caution, and focus on restoring the land and honoring Elune above all else, and so I like to think that nobler forces drive us. But, I found Wisthera consorting with Dark Iron Dwarves in the Burning Steppes of all places, then slept with her the night that I met her. It must be that my morals had been loosened by the humans I worked with in Elwynn Forest all those years ago, and Wisthera must have grown into a kind of lawlessness I thought impossible for a Night Elf. Or, maybe that just proves that we're made for each other. Or, better yet, that I'm completely wrong about the differences between the Kaldorei and the humans. I hope I haven't offended any of the sensibilities of those in Stormwind, if you're reading this. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how I got involved with Wisthera in the first place. Maybe there's no excuse for our bad behavior, but I hope to Elune that there is._

_I met Wisthera while I was on leave from my post in Felwood. It felt only right to help out the druids there after it had been my boyhood home all those years ago. I was headed to Darkshore for a little rest, and I ran into my sister, who was frantic about something I didn't understand. She was really angry with Willypearl, the human mage, and kept raving that she 'set her up' and that all of Stormwind was after her now. Of course, I didn't believe any of that. But then, Opal mentioned that a certain rogue was helping her to hide from them, and maybe she could find her and get help now… it turned out to be the very same Wisthera that Willypearl had written me about a month earlier. Willypearl sounded as frantic then as my sister was at that time. This rogue Wisthera had been scamming Willypearl for years, doing secret favors in exchange for the nice shirts and enchantments Willypearl can make. Once, when I saw how upset Willypearl was, I told her to stop giving the woman these "payments." Since the rogue seemed harmless enough, only asking for things in letters and never in person, I thought that would be the end of it. Willypearl is a sweetheart, and I adore her but her personality makes her very vulnerable. She was obviously being taken advantage of by someone who wasn't too clever or skilled themselves. But then, when I found out this same person was scamming my own sister, I figured out that she was using both of them because Willypearl had been trying to get Opal to be her friend for years… I should have known that only the help of a third party could get Opalbane to really come out of her shell. I just should have known._

_You know what else I should have done? I should have asked my sister what Wisthera looked like. I used to think people who called warriors meatheads were wrong, but I'm starting to agree with the idea now. I couldn't calm down my sister who'd become a shadow priest, and I could hardly convince her to come with me, or at least go to the temple in Darnassus for help. She left. I never thought she was running away. Poor Willypearl had been arrested for something… it had to do with meeting my sister near Stormwind, I'm not sure why exactly. Opalbane was too upset to talk about anything other than her betrayal. I was too angry to believe it was Willypearl's fault. In fact, I still don't think Willypearl could have done something to merit being thrown into the Stockades. At that moment, I was sure it was the rogue's fault, and I asked around for the Night Elf rogue named Wisthera for a whole month before I finally narrowed down just the right Wisthera. Maybe if I'd been a rogue, I would have been careful to peg her appearance as well. I think that is what got me into trouble in the end._

_My sister gone, and with a good friend in jail, I took it upon myself to settle things. I sent word to the druids in Felwood: I was not coming back, find a replacement I said. I was very angry to have said it, but I had no choice. My rudimentary investigation sent me to the dwarvern lands, in a region called the Badlands. It was interesting, especially the scuffles I had in the Valley of Fangs, but the Burning Steppes was much worse. I am a very skilled warrior, but I don't ever want to see a black dragon or that abominable mountain again. When I passed through that mountain city, I had the feeling someone or something was watching me the whole time, though it looked like it was abandoned. But I kept going because I ran into someone in the Badlands who assured me a lady night elf rogue named Wisthera had business in a tavern on the other side of the mountain. However heinous the place was, she had to go and see to it, so that was enough for me. I tracked the rogue to a little known tavern on the edge of madness it seemed. From my map, I could tell that a day's journey in one direction would take you through the Redridge Mountains, and into the lands around Stormwind, and in the opposite direction, back to Blackrock Mountain. This tavern, for some reason, had not been burned to a crisp by a drake, or bogarded by nefarious darkiron dwarves. All kinds of shady characters came there, out in the open, to have a drink together and some rest before they went on into either the gay red mountains, or the foreboding dark ones. I found myself among their mixed company soon enough._

_That's when I met her. I didn't know it was Wisthera. What I did know is that I'd been on the road a long time, angry to bursting about the person who'd hurt my sister and the one person in the world other than me and the priestesses who dared to care about ever-angry Opalbane try to be my sister's friend. I often slept outside with wolves, or worse, black dragons. I heard all kinds of terrible things at night, and I think the only reason I avoided a lot of fights was because I was covered in plate. So, I guess the superior armor I learned to make for myself came in handy afterall. I also have this impressive axe with a skull on the blade… now I'm getting carried away. The point is, I was 'dog tired' as the humans say, and willing to forget all my troubles for a night. I should have been vigilant, but I wasn't. I should have been suspicious about this girl being the only other kaldorei in the place, but I was too drunk to notice. When she got a room for us, out of her purse, and rubbed my shoulders for me, maybe I should not have enjoyed it quite so much, but… it would be hard for you in that situation too I guess._

_Wisthera is an amazing lover. I think that was how my addiction to her began. She was adorable, the way she pouted. I told her she had markings like my first warrior trainer in Aldrassil, and she just giggled and said she got that all the time, and yes she was related to her. I should have known that kind of thing was common knowledge, and easy for someone clever to know about me or any kaldorei warrior, but I was not exactly thinking with my head at that point. So, I believed her. I'm a practical guy. I understand that sometimes men and women meet and spend the night only as a way to have fun and nothing else. To be honest, I expected this girl, she told me her name was Sarielle, to be gone the next morning. I liked that name, because I could call her "Sara" and I always thought Sara was such a nice female human name. But, when the red sun rose, Sara was still holding me tight, and she slept clear through noon. Then, Sara offered to get us lunch. It was clear to me that she wanted to stay._

_Eventually I becam focused on finding this Wisthera again, so I told my new lady friend about as soon as I was myself again. She even offered to help me look. It is no surprise to me now that we just happened to find all kinds of evidence that this Wisthera got away, or was an alias to begin with, and so maybe I should just go back home and give up on my search. In the end, it was worry about my sister Opal that convinced me to back home. Since Stormwind was closest, I told Sara that I was going there… and I asked her to come with me._

_She said yes. Wisthera, the rogue, told me yes, she loved me, and yes, she wanted to come with me to see Stormwind. She was eager to get to civilization, and 'into a dress so I could see' she said. By then, it wasn't just about physical intimacy. It was about the mysterious woman who'd been so kind to me on a moment's notice. It was about the beautiful woman who was dazzling on the inside, the way Priestess Feathershine took Opalbane and I in when we weren't adopted right away. And I thought of the perfect kaldorei woman, saw my Sara, and saw no difference between them._

_The day before we got to Stormwind, we spent the night at Eastvale Logging Camp. I remember, because it was a pretty Spring day. We were going to enjoy ourselves in Stormwind, and more importantly, check in on Willypearl and I'd see if any letters came from Opal. At the time, I didn't think my sister would disappear altogether. I thought she just needed some time to deal with becoming a shadow priestess, which she wasn't adjusting to very well, and to find some peace after she fought and wounded some human guards who tried to throw her into jail a few months earlier. I figured that Opalbane would talk to the priestesses in Darnassus, and that they would keep her safe from the authorities while she pulled herself together. But, as it turned out, my sister did not do as I would have done._

_And, I guess this is really the last important thing you'd need to know before I start recording this journey that Willypearl, Wisthera, Priestess Feathershine and myself are making. It might explain a lot of the awkwardness on the ship and elsewhere. I don't think that the humans have an equivalent, because the kaldorei have always seen life as very long and our traditions are aligned accordingly. Humans get married very fast and then husband and wife live together until mortality catches up with them. At least, that is the understanding I have from what my human friends have told me. The kaldorei have a stage before marriage, which often tends to be very long, and an important commitment. It's nothing really, just a fun thing we do to show the girl we are interested in that we adore them and hope they would consider being a wife one day in the future. It normally takes place years before any semblance of an engagement or a wedding, but it is a special time in the life of a couple, and I wanted to share it with Wisthera, or… Sara, or Sarielle or whoever she is._

_I left early for Stormwind the morning after we arrived in the Eastvale Logging Camp. There were plenty of other couples and families vacationing there, so I knew Wisthera wouldn't be lonely if I was gone for the first half of the day. I had them bring her breakfast, and left a note saying that she should meet me in the park at noon. Meanwhile, I went to the flower shops to find someone who would make a beautiful wreathe for my girl to wear on her head for the whole day. That's how it goes, you know? I give the woman I love a flower wreath to wear on her head, and if she accepts, she can wear it for the entire day. Then, I treat her to all kinds of candies and romantic outings until the sun sets. That is meant to be a symbol of our love, a chance for us to experience what our future together could be like. Then, we Kaldorei try to live in that moment until we are sure we want to marry. It's like making a promise before the big promise. If a woman accepts, the couple is supposed to be exclusive and take the relationship seriously. I always thought I would take the girl I loved to Stormwind for her Wreathe Day, because I like the humans, and I love their modern city. I guess I'd say I'm not a traditional Kaldorei. The world is changing, and I appreciate the Alliance between our people, the dwarves, and even the gnomes. I welcome it, while a lot of my elders would be less eager to embrace the change. I would want the woman of my dreams to understand that about me._

_But, on that day, probably while I was waiting in the park for Sarielle, or Wisthera--I'll just call her Wisthera from now on—and bragging to the stable master (the only other kaldorei around) about the day I had planned, my girlfriend was stopped in the Valley of Heroes by the Grand Marshall himself at the entrance of the city, and thrown into the Stockades. Willypearl told me later in the day that they made her confess the person who had stolen the Archmage's ring and given it to Opalbane years ago. All the guards in Stormwind were looking for Wisthera… they were smart. They had a physical description of the rogue, unlike myself. Also, for the record, I didn't know about the ring until that day._

_It was clear at that point that my girlfriend, who I'd considered thinking about wanting to marry sometime down the line in our long lives, if she felt like it (so you see how it's not exactly an engagement) was the very rogue who had scammed my big sister, her only friend in all of Azeroth, and then me. I visited Wisthera in jail, and she begged me to believe that she did truly love me and that she was sorry, but I wasn't sure if she was just saying that because she was behind bars._

_This time, instead of trying to take justice into my own hands, I made sure that neither of those ladies were going to be executed anytime soon, and then went directly home to Darnassus. Now, Priestess Feathershine is wise, and I trust her, but when I asked her to help, I never expected that she would get Wisthera into her custody, and then in a Darnassian trial, find her to be innocent. I was pretty upset about that._

_Right now, we're on a boat to Menethil Harbor, and depending on what we hear from our sources there, Kalimdor again. A week ago, Wisthera testified at Willypearl's trial and showed all of Stormwind that Willypearl was a good person, and was put in jail by mistake. Priestess Feathershine warned Wisthera not to use the words 'corruption of the mages in stormwind' eventhough I think it's the truth. I don't care if there are rumors that warlocks are in the city. Who holds a convention of all the cloth classes in the Alliance, only to put guilt trips on young people who seem to be evil, so that they eventually expose themselves? My sister seemed to fit the description at this convention they had years ago when she was just starting out. Opalbane is very arrogant, and bitter all of the time. And, as her little brother, I am fairly sure that she can come off as more than a bit scary. But some of the evidence they had against her at the trial was frivolous! The Archmage tried to defend himself, saying something about how Opalbane was so pale, and had dark markings on her face, like a ghost. I wanted to take his head clear off with my Arcanite Reaper. Well, I wouldn't really do it, you understand, but that's how angry I was. I can't believe that someone would torture my sister into thinking she was evil just because of the way she looks… and acts… and because as it turns out she just decided to become a shadow priest._

_Well, anyways, as you can see, this is a mess. We promised the courts in Stormwind that we would go and find Opalbane and bring her to justice. Priestess Feathershine assures me that there are some people in Stormwind that owe her favors, and justice will actually mean clearing my family's name through some supercilious means. Well, I won't tell you all of our plan, but let's just say I agree with the Priestess; human justice for nobles is quite different. And, I guess you could say my family line is noble as far as Kaldorei go._

_We got Willypearl's name cleared and she elected to with us. Now, that's a kind person. After all my sister has put her through with her temper, and after being arrested for consorting with Opalbane, Willy still wants to help. I hope that after this is said and done they can be friends again. Wisthera is here because it's part of Priestess Feathershine's sentence, eventhough Wisthera keeps telling me she wants to help. Obviously, I'm here because I'm Opalbane's brother, and I should have been here a few months ago, instead of chasing a lying cheat of a woman rogue._

_Well, that took forever to write. I hope my sister is okay. I'm a bit worried that I never got any letters from her, and that we have to track her down this way, but I'm sure… I have to believe that she's fine. Priestess Feathershine keeps throwing phrases like the 'Twilight Hammer' and 'Burning Legion' around but… it can't be that bad, can it?_

_No way in Outland is that true. I know my sister better than I know myself._


	2. On a ship to Menethil

**The Romancer Onyxbane: the story of a male Night Elf with perhaps, one too many women in his life.**

Episode 2:

"Goodnight, Onyxbane." Priestess Feathershine pulled a long lock of emerald hair from over her shining eyes and yawned. Onyxbane wasn't in the mood but he managed a smile at the beautiful priestess.

How old was she exactly? For Night Elves, it really didn't matter. Priestess Feathershine had been the most beautiful woman Onyxbane had ever seen, since he was a little boy recovering from the devastation in Felwood. Now he was a grown man, a warrior, and he knew full well that his little crush on her was because he had recently lost his mother, and the kind womanly face, the gentle hugs, the kimchee she made special for him, impressed on him a vision of what the perfect Night Elf woman should be: beautiful, kind, strong and useful in the face of danger, loving. It was a perception of women Onyxbane had come to honor and respect. And, back when people lived forever and were young forever, it was only natural to find the aging priestess as beautiful as the day he first saw her. They'd all lost Elune's gift, the capacity to live forever and ever, but even so, some of the most entrancing people, it seemed, had resisted aging. His breath still caught in his throat when she entered a room.

Onyxbane looked from the woman he admired to the woman he loved. A rogue with much darker features, blue skin and dark green hair, as dark as night ivy. He didn't trust her any more. He didn't think she was kind, he found her a cheat and a coward, and he knew for a fact that she couldn't cook and never lifted her finger to do any kind of work a day in her life, except for scamming his big sister and his good human friend Willypearl.

"Good night priestess," Onyxbane smiled and nodded to his old friend. Priestess Feathershine relaxed in her chair, and the old ship creaked as it ploughed through the calm waves of mid-ocean. It was one of many long nights ahead of them as they all made their way to the lands of the dwarves.

"Remind me again why we aren't taking the tram from Stormwind to Ironforge? It's a lot faster, Priestess." That was his love talking. Why did he still have feelings for Wisthera after all she'd put them through?

"I don't believe it. I just can't believe that a coach could be driven by a motor and then set on tracks to travel under the ground, and a lake at that? Not possible."

"You mean, you don't think it's safe." Wisthera pouted. Onyxbane tried not to think of how sexy she was when she did that. "This is taking too long, you know. We have someone important to find."

"Yes. And I have to say I disagree with your ruling, Priestess. How _are_ you innocent, Wisthera? Just how are you blameless for pushing my sister over the edge, causing her to take out a few Stormwind guards before running off?" Onyxbane accused the young rogue. Wisthera bit her lip and would not meet his glowing yellow eyes.

"Now, that's enough young ones. Onyxbane, please go to bed. It's important that we all keep to the diurnal cycle of our allies during this mission. And, as I've said many times before Onyx, Wisthera is here on punishment. It is her duty to set things right, after swindling the human Willypearl and your sister Opalbane." Then Priestess Feathershine looked at darkly beautiful Wisthera critically. "This is one of many punishments for your crime, isn't it?"

"Yes, priestess." Wisthera pouted again.

Onyxbane couldn't stand to look at his ex love, just then, mostly because her show of guilt was so attractive. He hated her, he knew he did deep inside… somewhere. He just needed to find it.

"Don't worry, we'll find your sister Onyxbane. None of us at the Temple of Elune could ever stand for her to be lost. You know we love you both as if we were all your mothers." Priestess Feathershine tried to console the tall warrior.

Onyxbane had braided, white hair, and pale skin that had a shadowy sheen to it. Against his snowy long hair, his skin was definitely dark, but not so much that his name was fitting.

Onyxbane, always a gentleman, managed a half-hearted, "Ladies," and a bow, then left the room.

Wisthera waited until the sound of his footfalls in the creaking hull of the ship faded and then asked the priestess, "Do you really think he'll come around? Do you think he believes us?"

"Dear girl, who is lying? Certainly not me. I personally, don't think you're worth of my Onyxbane. Besides, I warned you at your trial that Elune can only bless two people so far. You must help us bring his sister back to Stormwind to face justice and clear her name. That is the only chance you have at gaining his forgiveness, or any of our own. Now, as for these reports—"

"But I just can't stand it! I never imagined that I would be so uncomfortable with someone hating me."

"Wisthera. I have a very hard time believing that this is the first time someone was upset with you. But, if this _is_ your first time dealing with it, I pray to Elune that you are spared nothing in the way of feeling the full brunt of how you hurt people."

Wisthera frowned at Priestess Feathershine, who raised her bright green eyebrows at her. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go over these reports with you again. I don't care who he almost gave his wreath to, but I've known him his whole life, and he's mine to watch over, so he gets to sleep now. But you are in my custody, and you sleep when I tell you. Now, here, read this and tell me what you think."

Reluctantly, Wisthera bent to read the reports the Stormwind authorities had given to the high priestess to help with their mission. But her mind always wandered, always from the lantern dark of the room to the blue pearlescent skin of Onyxbane. The fierce warrior whom she'd fallen for, come to love at exactly the wrong moment in her life.


	3. Invisible womaan, stay away from meee

Episode 3: **The Romancer Onyxbane: the story of a male Night Elf with perhaps, one too many women in his life.**

Onyxbane liked to think of himself as the most human-friendly Kaldorei there was, but even now, keeping to a diurnal cycle was difficult. Night Elves were nocturnal, and most comfortable in the quiet starlit forests of Darkshore, Ashenvale, Teldrassil, Feralas, and at one time, Felwood. The burning bright morning sky was harsh on his eyes, but he gripped the deck rail fiercely. Even if he could not see very well, he would not fall if he just held on. The dark blue ocean below was a comfort to his eyes, and he let himself get lost in the waves that brushed up against the gentle swell of the ship.

_Onyx_

It was hardly more than a gentle whisper. Perhaps it was just a breeze. But there it was again,

_Onyxbane, my Onyxbane,_

The voice was as light as air itself. Onyxbane smiled despite his disappointment. Maybe this is what enchanted human men years ago, when they first saw Night Elf women. Night Elves had long ears that were more sensitive to sound, which meant certain lower tones were easy for a kaldorei to hear, but a human man, or a dwarf… A beautiful young woman could walk right up to a man, shadowmeld, and speak so softly that it might feel like it was a voice inside one's head. Seductive, entrancing, like a Siren. He heard stories that many of the Kaldorei women thoroughly enjoyed themselves teasing and flirting with the newcomers with what seemed like new power all that time ago. Siren was the word humans had for it, an exotic woman who could drive you mad with desire and wonder, steer you across the ocean and crash against the rocks, to your doom.

_Oh dearest, how I miss you._

"You're not a very good rogue, Wisthera." Onyxbane said simply. He kept holding onto the rail, though his shoulders sagged with laughter.

"Huh?" this was clear as a bell.

"I may have my back turned, but I'm almost certain that if I was looking in the other direction, I would be able to see you as well as hear you. You're really not very good at all."

"How dare you Onyxbane! I'm pretty darned good." And then Wisthera's silken voice trailed off into a purr.

Onyxbane was fairly certain that she was looking at him, the way she always used to. The woman could turn into a nightsaber when she got excited about something she wanted.

"It's not like that anymore, Wisthera, you know that." Onyxbane responded, sadly.

_I still want you, Onyxbane. I still need you._

"For what? And can you even _do _that with your jailor lurking around?"

_And so you would come to me if not for the priestesses?_ The voice surprised the tall male Night Elf. His large shoulders trembled when he felt her breath on his cheek. She had stealthed in a lot closer to him than he thought possible.

Onyxbane was afraid to turn his head, lest he brush her face with his lips. He wasn't sure if he wanted that or not…

_Yes you do. _That didn't exactly surprise Onyxbane, after being raised around priestesses. They could use mind visions to look into your thoughts whenever they wanted. But Wisthera wasn't a priestess.

"How are you doing tha—"

_I know you. I know you too well, my love. You feel what I feel._ Onyxbane shuddered. He felt something warm press up against him, and it forced his arm out of the way. He lost his balance for a moment, but then Wisthera slid past him, and he found himself pressed up against her, and she was pressed up against the deck rail now at her back. Onyxbane could see through her, see the rail, and the ocean beyond, but she was not exactly invisible. He could feel her all over him.

And then,

_You see what I see._ The trick of her voice startled him now that she was directly in front of him, and he focused for a long moment before he saw her. Wisthera was barely visible, but the dark splotches of ivy green around her softly glowing eyes helped. It was like looking into the night sky. Her face was inches before his own.

Wisthera wrapped her invisible arms around his waist and held him close. Onyxbane was afraid to breathe. Nor did he dare let go of the rail that kept he and his ex lover from going over the side of the ship. In the bright morning light, the young rogue had achieved a new kind of stealth, one difficult for a kaldorei comfortable with the shadows of darkness to detect.

Wisthera fluttered her long dark lashes at him, and smiled coyly as she roved her hands up Onyxbane's bare back.

"How can we be here like this, when my sister may be in danger?" Onyxbane asked Wisthera.

Wisthera looked him over, not talking for a long time. With the rising of the waves and the white light of morning, she wavered in and out of the horizon, threatening to disappear with each rocking of the boat.

"I am worried about her too." Onyxbane was grateful that Wisthera gave up with the flirtatious tone. To keep it up now would be insensitive.

"Why are you still stealthed?"

Wisthera looked to her right and then her left absently. It was a very natural movement, but Onyxbane knew that she was checking over both of his shoulders.

"I don't want to get you into trouble, Onyx." Wisthera said.

Onyxbane forced himself to forget how much he loved her use of his nickname. She hissed the end, turned the "x" into an "s". It opened her mouth, and he longed to kiss it…

"I won't be in trouble." He tried to push away from her, but Wisthera, held him tight around the waist. It made him feel like he might lose his balance and fall, so he kept helding onto the ship, and pressing her back against the rail.

"You've been sentenced to what? A life without ruining men's lives, I hope."

"Now that's mean." Wisthera pouted. "I couldn't have ruined your life."

"Let's save musing about how badly you hurt me for another day, shall we? So, you're not allowed to be around me, is that it? How else did Priestess Feathershine punish you?"

Wisthera's long blue ears wilted, but she maintained control of her stealth. Onyxbane was starting to feel silly talking to an invisible woman.

"They said I had to learn to work, and made me take up a profession."

"Oh, how terrible." Onyxbane mocked her. "It must be bad at that. What is it? Mining? Tailoring? You seem to hate it."

"I have to hunt… animals and… clean their carcasses and then… skin them." She cringed.

Onyxbane roared with laughter.

"It's not funny, Onyx." She withdrew one invisible arm from around his wide back and slapped his shoulder playfully. She was quick to hold him fast again, though.

"So you are a skinner and a leatherworker? That's not so bad. It sounds a lot like what I chose for myself. You'll be able to make better armor than you have."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? I tricked a lot of pretty well to do people for the stuff I have now."

"That is exactly what you need, to be forced to be a hardworking and honest person." Onyxbane frowned and tried to pull away from Wisthera, but she scowled darkly at him and refused to budge. She had him trapped. If he tried to get away at all it would mean pushing Wisthera overboard, and though she was a little thing compared to him, Onyxbane didn't doubt that she might try to take him with her.

"I also have to help with this mission, and there's something for Shadowstep in Darnassus."

Onyxbane balked. Which was worse? His ex lover admitting that she lied about really caring for his sister and helping him selflessly, or the fact that she was on a secret mission from the rogues of the Cenarion Enclave as well? She had not come of her free will at all.

Wisthera looked away from him and bit her lip. She knew she had misspoke.

"I didn't meant that. I _am_ very sorry about Opalbane, and Willypearl, and—"

"Onyx?" Priestess Feathershine's voice rang out. Onyxbane froze, embarrassed of the way he was holding a woman he was supposed to hate. "Have you seen Wisthera? She was supposed to help me finish the reports, but I dozed off, and—" then the priestess' eyes narrowed, and it was clear she was focused on something not too far in front of her.

"Wisthera!" the ageless priestess shrieked. Some of the Darnassian sailors perked up at hearing a priestess cry out, but she waved them off. It wasn't exactly an emergency.

Wisthera didn't budge. Onyxbane shot the priestess an apologetic look. This was not his doing.

Priestess Feathershine began to roll up her long sleeves. "You know that I am a priestess girl, and I do not take kindly to people ignoring me. You step away from my Onyxbane at once, or so help me Elune, come the Legion, or high waters!"

Wisthera arched her back and pressed in close to Onyxbane, still stealthed. She held onto him fiercely, jealously. Onyxbane wasn't sure if he should be flattered, turned on, or frightened for his life.

_Cover your ears dear,_ the priestess' silent warning spoke clearly in Onyxbane's mind, only a moment before he let go of the railing and Wisthera fell back.

_Don't you dare—_Wisthera whispered to him angrily, but her threat was abruptly cut off.

A piercing scream filled up Onyxbane's mind, and surprisingly, covering his ears did little to help, but it kept him from running around like a scared rabbit the way Wisthera did.

Wisthera screamed and her blind fear caused her to push the man she loved out of the way. Once past that lone obstacle, she went running around the ship as if the Legion itself was chasing her. The psychic scream in her mind kept the young rogue from focusing on her subtle efforts, and she broke stealth immediately, then… slammed facefirst into a wall.

The sailors had been warned as well, and when it was over, they dropped their hands from over their long ears, laughing.

"That is _not_ funny!"

"Oh, I think it is dear. Now, you are here to work, not to seduce my Onyxbane. Now, get down in that hull!"

"No! You can't treat me like this. I have a right to talk to the man I—"

Calmly, Priestess Feathershine raised her bright pink hands to the sides of her head and placed her forefingers to her temples. Then, the priestesses' eyes flew open, and the gentle moonglow of the female Night Elf's eyes was suddenly spooky. Her mouth moved, but she didn't talk.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, Onyxbane." She made Wisthera say. Then, Priestess Feathershine made Wisthera do an elaborate curtsey, too old fashioned for the young woman to know herself, and then marched her back down the length of the deck, and then through the portal below deck. After a moment, the Priestess dropped her hands, and almost simultaneously, Wisthera could be heard shouting,

"I hate you!"

"As do I." Priestess Feathershine smiled smugly.

"Was it really necessary to mind control her, Priestess? She wasn't really hurting me." Onyxbane tried to sympathize with his ex girlfriend, but he was laughing too hard. The ship's crew was still laughing as well.

The priestess chuckled herself. "I just worry about you is all. I know how easy it is to get carried away by a handsome beau. I don't want you getting back involved with her unless you really mean it; or else you'll get hurt, dear."

Onyxbane smiled sadly. "Just who, exactly, are you protecting here?"

The priestess smiled too, and then said, "Opalbane, really. It helps all of us to have clear heads, so I'd save any semblance of a reconciliation until then, if that is what you desire with Wisthera."

"I would have nothing to do with her at all if she wasn't forced to be here."

"What makes you think she was forced? I gave her a choice you know." The priestess said quickly before rushing back below deck. Onyxbane didn't have a chance to ask her what she meant.

"Hi honey, how are ya? You're up early, you know." Willypearl came on deck then. She had brown skin, and eyes as dark as ebony wood. Onyxbane loved her Westfall accent. She came up and kissed him on the cheek and then stood nearby to watch the ocean as well.

Onyxbane watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was definitely a country girl, unlike many of the humans who lived in Stormwind. One could never forget that Willypearl came from a small farm out west… that is, until the Defias came and took what little her family had. But, unlike his big sister, Willy didn't let herself get bitter about it.

Some human men were addicted to Night Elf women, Onyxbane knew from experience. How many times had they gone off topic in a raid of some villain's dungeon when the other males in the party started bragging about 'this Night Elf chic', or 'that purple girl last night'. It was unthinkable to many of them that their Kaldorei comrade could find a human woman more attractive. But maybe they just didn't understand the precious treasures they had just next door. While Kaldorei certainly had a range of personalities, especially the women, there was a certain kind of arrogance that came through, no matter what the situation when one dated a Night Elf woman. Making love to a woman who was more in love with herself was horrible, for example. Just try fishing for a compliment or encouragement in that situation. A man couldn't hope to get a break.

But human women were a bit more humble, and hopeful. While lots of female Night Elves dismissed a lot of Night Elf men offhand as arrogant, and self absorbed, a lot of human women were more open to learning about a guy's personality. And as far as personality was concerned, many human women were absolutely adorable. They giggled, and teased you, and they were the hardest to impress. To them, every man was a stalwart warrior. A man had to be more than that. And charming men were a dime a dozen when one had to live by his wit in such a dangerous world. One had to go above and beyond to really get the attention of a human woman and that made the chase exciting. Besides, many of them weren't afraid to get their hands dirty and help out in everyday situations, not just epic world-threatening battles. Onyxbane never dated Willypearl, though he tried to flirt with her a bunch of times, but nothing he ever said or did seemed to get a rise out of her. For now, all he could do watch, and wish, and wonder. A part of him was burning up to know what it would be like to love a human woman.

"It was hard to sleep; it's been a few years since I was out questing in Westfall." Onyxbane began to ramble, "Since then, I've been living in elven lands, and sleeping during the daytime. Oh, and you look nice this morning, like the sun." And she did. Willypearl was wearing a gold robe that she had made herself. It complimented her curves very nicely, and the enchantments she put on it gave it a hint of blue glow. She was dressed like a princess though they were on a humble voyage.

"What was aaall that screamin?" She yawned, and then smoothed down her cute little bob haircut with her fingers. Night Elves were much bigger than humans. Willpearl only came up to his mid chest.

"Wisthera." Onyxbane frowned a little that she missed his compliment.

The young mage folded her arms up into her long sleeves, and began to laugh. It was musical, pleasant laughter.

"That girl's got issues, I'd bet my bonnet on that. You really think she'll help us find Opalbane?"

The way she said his sister's name was so cheerful, all slurred together like it was the name of a flower, or a local bird, not a mad little girl's declaration of war on the demons who destroyed her homeland and murdered her mother.

"I hope so." Onyxbane shrugged.

"You got it bad honey. I wouldn't trade places with you for all the hammers in Ironforge."

"What a strange thing to say."

"It's them dwarves that'r strange." Willypearl said, and they both shared a laugh, but not a very long one.

"Onyxbane, Willypearl, please come below deck. The rogue has found your sister." A young priestess dressed in green robes alerted them and then disappeared into the hull as quickly as she had come.

The human and Night Elf rushed into the darkness as well, frightened. The young priestess's tone had been bleak.


	4. The Twilight Hammer

Episode 4:

"This is why I insisted we stay up late to go over the reports." Priestess Feathershine announced triumphantly as she handed a crackling scroll to Onyxbane for review.

"We were very close to the answer, I had a feeling about it." The priestess continued to explain, and then pointed to a line further down from where Onyxbane was reading. The document was in Common. He was fairly good at reading it, but for some reason he refused to ask about, Wisthera was better than all of them at reading the human's language. After her trial, Willypearl was still to exhausted to help with translations, and wasn't very good at official jargon besides.

Onyxbane read slowly. Wisthera held her tongue. Everyone in the room seemed to want Onyxbane to hear the news first.

After a time, the rogue became impatient and tried to explain. "The Twilight Hammer is a cult that has camps throughout Silithus. Thankfully, the Cenarion Circle has a fortress there. They observed someone who looked like your sister come through the area… and they think there was a ceremony."

"The druids think my sister sold her soul to a demon?" Onyxbane gasped.

"It is just a theory, dear." Priestess Feathershine consoled the man she'd known he was a boy. "And it doesn't work like that exactly… I've been reading some things, but no one really knows for sure. The best strategy is to go to Cenarion Hold and talk to the authorities there."

"I don't care what they say, though. I am seeing my sister whether she's been claimed by the Burning Legion or not."

"No, Onyxbane." Wisthera shook her head. "The Burning Legion and the Twilight Hammer are not the same thing."

"How do _you_ know?" Onyxbane flared at Wisthera.

Wisthera erupted right back, "What are you accusing me of? How dare you!"

Willypearl looked especially worried, and screwed up the side of her face. "But why would Opalbane think to go there, and how? It's expensive to travel across the ocean, and then all over Kalimdor like that."

"I'm not sure, dears." Priestess Feathershine shrugged, and opened empty hands to all in the room. A few priestesses in green and yellow robes were sitting at tables in the background, poring over piles of papers, all bearing the seal of Stormwind. After admitting to the fiasco they made of Willypearl's life, it was not hard to convince the Archmage to hand over documents that could help them make amends with Opalbane.

"As we speak, my girls are doing their best to find out who could have helped Opalbane."

"Or, encouraged her." Wisthera mumbled. Onyxbane tried very hard to ignore it. Perhaps he'd get better answers out of his ex girlfriend later, in his own way.

"I hope it ain't what you suggestin, Wisthera." The way Willypearl pronounced Wisthera's name was horrible. It always sounded like the young mage was accusing the rogue of something in the second syllable, even with the constraints of her heavy Westfall accent.

"I suggest nothing of value. Nothing at all really."

Priestess Feathershine raised her eyebrow critically, but said nothing. Onyxbane crossed his silvery arms across his broad chest. The muscles rippled, and it caused him to flex, though he may not have intended to. None of the women there asked why he wasn't wearing a shirt. They were all Night Elves, except for Willypearl, and she averted her eyes. Like the rest, Willypearl knew that it was quite normal for the kaldorei to sleep comfortably without much clothing, and it was still early morning. Only someone with a weakness for a certain nude ex-boyfriend would have a reaction.

Wisthera made a noticeable effort to force her eyes on the page in front of her, and made a little wincing sound. Onyxbane smiled wickedly at his deceptive ex. Yes, he would get the secret information from her later, whatever it took to know what she and the rogues of the Cenarion Enclave knew about his missing sister.


	5. Warriors should stick to tanking

Episode Five:

The very handsome warrior Onyxbane stood before his ex girlfriend. She waited patiently on the bed of his humble quarters belowdeck of the Darnassian ship docked at Menethil Harbor. Wisthera had a sly smile on her face. It had taken him weeks to work up the courage to do this, but in the end he angrily warned neither Priestess Feathershine nor Willypearl to interfere. He certainly was no expert at seduction; maybe he should not have warned all the women first? Should he have been more subtle? Would that lack of tact completely ruin his chances with the others? Onyxbane also told his better sense not to interfere. He was going to give in eventually, right? Why not do it for his sister's sake?

But, as he watched Wisthera undress, he seriously began to doubt he was doing this for nobler reasons.

"Dear Elune," Onyxbane cupped his hand over his mouth, and tried to turn away. "I'd forgotten how beautiful you are."

Wisthera sat on the bed, naked but watching him carefully.

"You don't want this do you?" she asked him. Hurt was full in her voice.

Onyxbane was afraid to look at her.

"So, you do truly hate me." Wisthera got up quickly and began to put her clothes back on.

"No, that's not true."

"I can't believe I talked myself into this!" she pulled her pants on with an effort. As soon as the ship docked, Priestess Feathershine made Wisthera go out and hunt crocodiles. The priestess also forced a local merchant to show once con artist how to turn the skins into primitive clothing. In her shabby handmade rags, Wisthera looked to him like a human penitent cowering before the Cathedral of Light. The pathetic misaligned seams made her new clothing hard to put on. The old leather armor Wisthera no doubt swindled from someone in her past was given away to a poor family in Menethil, at the priestess' urging.

Onyxbane forced himself not to laugh, but failed.

"So you think this is funny!" Wisthera came and pushed hard on Onyxbane's shoulder so that he was forced to turn around and face her. Then, she slapped him. Onyxbane narrowed his long eyebrows in angry surprise, but he broke out into another peal of laughter. Didn't she just make him turn around, and then only to slap him like she didn't want to see him?

"I hate you!"

"Wait, you seemed pretty upset about my hating you a moment ago. Now you're okay with hating me?" he mocked her.

"I hate you Onyxbane! I hate you! I hate you! Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because you know something about my sister." Onyxbane got serious suddenly, and caught Wisthera's hand in mid air when it was about to come down on his cheek again. He was mostly undressed himself, and the two looked odd, their night-toned bodies illuminated by the pale green swampy sunlight of the Wetlands outside. With Wisthera in her rags, and Onyxbane's trousers hastily re-fastened, they looked like the primal missing link between Night Elves and Trolls.

"Forgive me for thinking that I could do to you what you did to me, but I haven't got the heart for it. Now, tell me what the Rogues of Darnassus know about Opalbane."

Wisthera stared up at him in confusion but then her silvery eyes blinked with realization. She had seduced him, back in the Burning Steppes, in order to fool him and throw him off the correct trail.

"This is different Onyxbane. I did that to you in order to survive."

"You liar! How can you compare it?"

"I had an angry shadow priestess, and her brother, a fury trained warrior on my tail. I had mere hours to plan how to keep my head on my shoulders. I did what I had to do."

"You had _that_ long to talk yourself out of breaking my heart, and you didn't?"

Wisthera turned away from him and went to stand by the small round portal. At another time, in a not so distant past, perhaps he would have demanded that his topless girlfriend get away from the window. But they were not together. As a free woman, Wisthera could do what she wanted, and nudity came naturally to Kaldorei. Onyxbane wondered why it was so important to him that he be the only one to see her that way.

When Wisthera turned back around, she was bathed in the green light of the swampland around them, and it was like she was a vision, a sweet day they might have shared in the wilds of Feralas, if only they'd stayed together…

She was crying, "I regret it. I can't believe that I hurt you that way. When you left the note for me at Eastvale Logging Camp, I had a choice to make, you know. I knew that if I went to Stormwind to accept your offer, and wear your wreathe, that I could get thrown in prison. I cried that morning. I was tempted to run away, but I just couldn't—"

"Ah, so you were ready to abandon me even then."

"No! No, you stupid, prancing male elf!" Onyxbane scowled at the insult. It was something the dwarves had begun to say recently. Before joining the Alliance it was widely known that few Night Elf women had a problem with the way their men danced.

"I love you. I was going to accept your offer. I couldn't leave you there. I went to see you even though it meant I might not make it."

And Onyxbane might have never known the difference. It was only through visiting Willypearl in the Stockades later in the day that he learned of Stormwind's most recent female prisoner.

Onyxbane looked at the woman he once loved, still beautiful, still dangerous.

"Fine, I won't treat you so poorly. I guess there's no reason for history to repeat itself. But, I have to know what you know about my sister. Is there anything that I could use to save her?"

Wisthera bit her lip. Onyxbane tried not to be attracted to her in that moment.

"Alright, but it means I'm a bad rogue," she said, walking back over to him from the window. Onyxbane was forced out of his lingering thoughts, and he studied his once love carefully.

"Shadowstep told me not to tell anyone anything… but it's so hard—regardless of what you think—to lie to you. In addition to Feathershine's punishment, the rogues have punished me as well. I'm to find out if… I'm to meet people and see if their observations of Opalbane have foundation."

"What… does that mean?"

Wisthera stopped pacing, and sat down on the bed. She splayed her legs and rested her elbows on her thighs like a man. "Ever since Willypearl asked me to steal the ring from the Archmage and deliver it to your sister all those years ago, there have been people watching me and the Rogues of Darnassus. I didn't know this back then, but Shadowstep told me they caught onto the spies right away, and alerted some operatives they had in Stormwind to watch the Archmage in turn. Our sources know now that there are forces in Stormwind, dark forces that keep an eye out for 'young talent' like your sister and try to encourage their development."

Then Wisthera looked up at Onyxbane who'd circled in. Real compassion was on her face. "I'm so sorry Onyxbane. It seems that since the convention—which was probably a farce organized by these people as a recruitment effort, and not the witchunt the Archmage seems guilty of—members of the Twilight's Hammer have been watching your sister, and manipulating events to ensure that she was ashamed of who she was. It sounds like they… encouraged her bitterness, made her miss out on key opportunities that might have boosted her confidence and morale. Things that might have never taken her down the path to become a shadow priestess."

"The apprenticeship in Ironforge!" Onyxbane gasped. His sister Opalbane had worked very hard to apply for an opportunity to gain an apprenticeship with the priests of the light in the famous city, and Opalbane was a star student, so it seemed a sure thing. But, it turned out that someone she deemed far less worthy was chosen, and a long rejection letter had been sent to Opalbane, but none of the other candidates.

Wisthera nodded. "Yes. I'm afraid so. And there must have been many other things as well. But I can't know for sure until I talk to the operatives in Silithus. They have been watching her closely. They can tell us, from her behavior, if she was manipulated or no."

Onyxbane thought for a long moment, rubbing his thumb and forefinger on his clefted chin, and then asked, "The rogues in the Cenarion Enclave are using this situation as a kind of experiment. They want to know if Opalbane is the first, and so special, or one of many?"

Wisthera looked afraid to answer, and then, "Yes. You are very insightful."

Onyxbane raked his fingers through his hair, nearly causing his careful twin braids to come apart.

"Come, sit down. I don't like you pacing like that."

Without really thinking about who made the request, only that it seemed a reasonable thing that a person who cared about him would ask, Onyxbane obeyed.

"Dear goddess!" he exclaimed. "Do they want you to help her?"

"Shadowstep said that was up to me." She said carefully. "But, he also told me that getting the information about the Twilight's Hammer recruiters was my priority, and I'd better return with it, or else. He warned me that his motivations and that of the priestesses might conflict and I might have to choose."

"And what are you going to choose, or have you chosen already?" Onyxbane demanded.

Wisthera's tear-stained face looked into her ex-lover's. His face filled with the white light of her eyes, and her own blue face, stained with dark green tattoos of large dark leaves was illuminated by the golden light that shone from Onyxbane's eyes. It looked like the light of life was in Wisthera's mysterious features. But was that not Elune? Beautiful with even the light and dark of creation, in its wonder and mystery? Miracles of life happened in the morning as well as in the night, in the open woods, as well as in birds' nests in the springtime, or in deep quiet borrows.

"Can't you see that I've already chosen, my love? You and your family. I intend to make this all up to you. How can you even doubt this?"

Onyxbane wanted to believe her, but he didn't trust Wisthera.

"That's enough," he said, when she tried to embrace him. He got up from the bed and put his shirt on. Then, he went to the door. "You've told me too much already. You might have even compromised your mission, or endangered yourself."

"Dearest, when was I ever free of danger when I was with you? I'm afraid I might like it. I think you do as well."

But Onyxbane shook his head. "Not like this."

"Aren't you even going to thank me?"

"Is that what you were expecting? If so, then I think I'll let you suffer some more."

Wisthera was seething. It was a shocking image, a woman nearly naked, angry, frustrated, betrayed. Onyxbane thought to himself that a woman as breathtaking as Wisthera should never be left on a bed alone, as hurt and vulnerable as she looked in that moment. But then, rather coldly, Onyxbane shut the door on her. As he walked as calmly as possible down the length of the hull, and then to the upper deck, he heard a feminine scream of rage, and a loud thud as something, most certainly one of his own heavy precious possessions, was thrown at the door he'd closed.

Later on that afternoon...

"Priestess, there are many witnesses. It's clear that shadow priestess yer looking for blazed a trail through here, then hopped on the next boat to Theramore Isle as soon as we were done with her."

Priestess Feathershine sighed heavily. Wisthera was nearly always in her presence, a lot like a hunter's pet, but more useless in tense situations. Wisthera was angry beyond the priestess' understanding, and Feathershine had been wise enough to let whatever her Onyxbane had done to the unworthy rogue pass. She'd made Wisthera go back and put on a shirt before they left the boat, but that was as much as she could force her to do.

"Thank you, Ironcrest. I'm very grateful to you dwarves for keeping an eye on this for me."

"What now?" Wisthera complained loudly when their dwarven contacts left the tavern.

"We go and make sure that Opalbane hasn't stepped on too many more toes before she gets to Silithus, and hopefully not any once there. The Cenarion Hold is a lot less tolerant of raucous behavior than the dwarves, and beyond their stronghold is unforgiving wilderness."

"Do we _have_ to tell Onyxbane that his sister cast a Vampiric Embrace on the bartender when he refused to give any more rum? I mean... I'm really mad at him right now, but even I think that would be cruel."

"No, we certainly don't, dear. I wouldn't want to hear that about my relative."

"Good, and don't call me dear anymore, I hate it."

"You do not tell me what to do _dear_, I own you."

"For now."

For perhaps the millionth time, Feathershine raised a shining emerald eyebrow at her captive. _I'll have you know that I can read your thoughts whenever I please. There is no getting away from me and certainly no getting out of your punishment for hurting the two people I love the most in the world besides Elune herself. And if you think you are going to use this penance as an opportunity to get close to my Onyxbane--"_

"Alright, alright, I get it. But in the end, you're just jealous that I got to sleep with him, and you didn't."

_Should I even respond to that dear? I can tell that it didn't work out between you, and I don't need to read your mind for that._

This caused Wisthera to pout, and she tried to order a drink as they left the Saltwater Tavern, but Priestess Feathershine slapped her hand.


	6. Captain's log: kissed a hot alien chic

Episode Six:

_Month two of our journey._

_So…somehow I failed in my plan to seduce Wisthera and get the secret information from her. Well, I got the information alright, but what happened to the seduction part? We're ex-lovers. Where was the sexual tension? Where was the desire? Wasn't I supposed to drive her out of her mind with lust, and then be so confused by the thick musk of desire in the air that I began to doubt my own personal convictions and start to believe that I never stopped loving her? Right?_

_That was supposed to be the best part!_

_I just… ended up hating her even more for telling me she has to choose between saving my sister's life or using her to get information for the rogues in Darnassus. Why is that a choice? After she told me that, I pretty much stopped listening to her._

_Oh, and I found out what she threw at the door to my cabin. It was my gauntlets. Maybe, if I was a normal guy, I'd be mad, but I'm not really. I'm a blacksmith after all, and I can just pretty much pound the dents out of any of my things that get damaged. I'm just glad it wasn't my sharpening stones. Oh, and I checked, the arcanite bars I decided to bring along incase the old Reaper gets hurt. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to the Reaper… but again, I diverge._

_At least now I know that we need to get to Silithus as soon as possible because Opal is there. I'm really worried about her now. I don't like the possibility that her whole life was manipulated by agents of the Twilight Hammer. I just can't… imagine how I'd feel if someone kept causing me to fail at everything I did just so that I could become…what is the warrior equivalent? A warrior that specializes in defense? That doesn't seem as tragic as a shadow priest. Oh, well._

_But, wait, I might have to give up the Reaper for that, and pick up a shield. Nevermind, I take the tragedy part back._

_Okay, back to my sister. I need to figure out what to do once I get to Silithus. I realize now that I have no assurance that Wisthera will be helpful when we do find Opal. At first, I thought that Feathershine's hold over her would be enough, since the High Priestess acted as Wisthera's judge, jury, and now her jailor. But now I know that Wisthera is a woman under two masters. Nor, do I have the power to convince her to do what I would like, which is pretty clear from my failed attempt at seducing her._

_But maybe if I had a talk with Willy…_

"Onyx? Onyxbane are you awake? Did I wake you up? I'm sorry, honey, but I gotta wake you up."

Onyxbane almost dropped the stylus and inkwell onto the floor when he heard Willypearl calling out to him from his private thoughts.

"Um… ya, come in."

When the lovely human mage entered his cabin, Onyxbane nearly spilled the ink again. She was wearing a long silken nightgown with a low neckline that also showed off her arms and shoulders. The peach color of the silk reminded him of the heaven peaches they sold in Darnassus. Did she also smell like a peach? But maybe Onyxbane was just imagining that part.

Never, in his life had he seen Willypearl in something so alluring, and he had spent a great deal of time with her and his human friends in all kind of situations back in Westfall. As he watched her walk over to the bed, the only seat in the room, it occurred to him that Willy was an artisan tailor and she probably made it herself. There was something special in that as well.

"Can I… assist you?" Onyxbane hated himself as soon as he said it. He was making an effort to be polite, but he came out sounding like one of the over eager vendors in Darnassus. It was an old Kaldorei greeting, but recently, the male Night Elves had started to turn it into something perverted that suggested there was more than just flint and refreshing spring water for sale.

Willypearl blushed a dark cherry color that Onyxbane didn't miss.

"So… how did it go with Miss Wisthera? Did you… you didn't really… umm that's rude, ain't it? But I need to know if you actually… did your plan work, is what I mean?"

Onyxbane frowned. "No, it didn't. I got the information out of her, but I messed up the whole thing."

"Did you? Oh, that's good. I mean, it's too bad I guess, but I never thought you were the kind of man who would take advantage of a woman for information in the first place."

Onyxbane was suddenly ashamed of himself. "Uh… well, it's not like I could do any worse to Wisthera than she's already done to me."

"You didn't… intend to _enjoy_ that compromising situation with Miss Wisthera, did you? I admit the girl has issues, but—"

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Even if I wanted to… I'm… apparently not capable of that."

Willypearl wondered at the handsome male Night Elf's words, but in the end, decided that he must not mean what her imagination suggested.

"Well, good. I'm glad you wouldn't treat a girl that way. I'm relieved, really."

"Oh? Why, what's that got to do with you?"

Then Willypearl really blushed. She readjusted the strap of her gown, which was slipping.

Onxybane felt awkward sitting while she stood, so he asked his friend to sit by him on the bed.

Willypearl fiddled with her hands as she stared into Onyxbane's softly glowing yellow eyes, and then eventually, her gaze wandered down his neck and to his bare chest. His heavy plate was placed neatly on a rack in the corner, and it was like one could see her thoughts. What did he look like in it?

"It's not much different than back in Westfall, Willy. The armor is just shinier, the shoulders larger, the axe bigger." Onyxbane shrugged, and then chuckled.

"Oh, my yes." Willypearl tucked a stray strand of her bob behind her ear. "I always thought you were handsome, Onyx. Then and… now." She stopped playing with her hands in her lap, and suddenly self conscious, scooted away from him on the bed.

Onyxbane pricked up his ears, as if to double check that he'd heard right.

"You… like me?"

Willypearl hesitated and then, "Yeah, I do… a lot, really. I never told you but… you see, it's not so pleasant to get rejected in a letter though. And that's why I'm glad you wouldn't hurt a lady like that."

Onyxbane found the girl so charming in that moment he wanted to just hug her to pieces.

"You thought I would reject you, why?"

"I… well, do you mean that you wouldn't?"

Onyxbane smiled wide. "I had a crush on you too. But… well, you know Sylvaen. I wasn't about to steal you from him."

"Sylvaen liked me back in Westfall?"

"Since we saved you on the farm. And… well, Mike and Hornsby did too, just like me, but Sylvaen was kind of the leader, you know, and he'd already claimed you."

"Men! I could've had a row over me and because of your sophisticated cock-blocking, I ended up doubting myself instead." Then Willypearl giggled.

Onyxbane laughed too. "I, for one, thought I'd have some kind of say… I was the one who found you after all."

"Yes you did." Willypearl nodded. "I remember how the Defias had me cornered, with his dagger pointed right at me, but then you slammed that axe of yours into the guy, and got your arm around my waist. Well, I didn't need to be thrown over your shoulder like that, but it was… sorta nice."

Onyxbane smiled. How many minstrels in Stormwind sang that kind of love story to the crowds?

"Of course, ya'll found out I was a decent mage once we got into the Deadmines, but it didn't matter by then. I'd charmed myself into a good group."

They laughed together for a while, recalling fond old memories of beating back the Defias in the golden, ever-autumn lands of Westfall, when finally Onyxbane couldn't take it anymore.

"Why was I so stupid? We could have been together, but I was so danged loyal to my friends."

"It wasn't just that, honey. It's only been about ten years, but it's more reasonable now for a night elf and a human to date."

"Oh, and there was that. Do you know, I've heard more stories about the women of my race going with humans, and dwarves, and gnomes even, than I've known male Kaldorei who did the same?"

"Well, those girls are bad competition for us, to be sure."

"No! Who told you that? Human women are… beautiful." Onyxbane said and he reached out and took the hand of his friend. "Dwarven women can actually hold their liquor, and gnomes… well, I'll admit I've never been attracted to a gnome."

"I have." Willypearl said and giggled. "They can be quite charming when they aren't going off on technical tangents."

Willypearl rubbed the back of Onyxbane's hand with her thumb, and then smoothed his pearlescent blue cheek with the palm of her other hand.

"I've… never been able to get you out of my mind, Onyx."

The confession was so honest, so pure and sweet, it was a relief compared to the fiasco with Wisthera of that morning. Onyxbane looked into the warm, earth colored eyes of his old friend, and decided he'd been wasting time with that infuriating woman.

"Me too," he said, and gave Willypearl the kiss she wanted. Onyxbane thought to himself that he should have seen it earlier. The desire had been plain on her face since she boarded the ship back in Stormwind, only he thought it was just a part of how kind she was. But, in truth, Willy had wanted to be with him since the start.


	7. in which Wisthera meets a hippogryph

Episode Seven:

"Priestess Feathershine, Willypearl and I have an idea." Onyxbane announced to the worried priestess as they walked down the wooden plank to the docks of Darkshore.

Priestess Feathershine looked unconvinced, but she raised a feather-long eyebrow anyway.

"We were… talking, and it might be best if we go ahead of the group to Silithus. I have a feeling we are running out of time. It will take too long if we take the land route.

Onyxbane thought it best to fly to Cenarion Hold in Silithus, instead of waiting for the boat to get to Feathermoon Stronghold, and then by saber to Silithus down through Feralas, and worse, Thousand Needles, and worse yet, Gadgetzan and Un'Goro Crater where he heard there were monsters.

"Were you now, _talking_ to my Onyxbane?" it came out sounding more possessive than perhaps the majestic priestess meant it to, and she pursed her round lips in embarrassment. She was the one put in charge of the mission by the courts in Stormwind. Onyxbane watched the tall female Night Elf toss her long silken emerald hair over her rose colored shoulder. Her full green lashes closed gently as Feathershine considered his idea. How many times had Onyxbane imagined that Elune might look like Feathershine, and not the other way around? Priestesses were meant to emulate the goddess in everything they did, but Feathershine was achingly close to perfect in his eyes. Onyxbane tried not to look at Wisthera whose hot jealousy he could feel on his skin.

"I take it Wisthera told you something that makes this all more urgent than we first assumed?"

"Err… yes."

"That must have been a very convincing session, Onyxbane. I used mind visions on her back in Darnassus, and never found anything so substantial." She accused.

Was the priestess jealous of him as well, or was he imagining things? Onyxbane took Willypearl's hand in his own, and backed away from the two fiercely enticing women of his race. Both looked on him with disdain. His ex-girlfriend's version felt close to feral rage, while the larger than life Feathershine frowned so darkly at him he feared the moon would go out. He resisted a strong impulse to go on his knees and submit to the will of the goddess Elune that was pent up in this woman.

"There'd better not be a scratch on my Onyxbane when we catch up to you with the supplies, do you hear?" Priestess Feathershine warned a young novice priestess on her right. The girl began to nod her assent furiously, and went to gather her things.

"The novice Windsong will go with you. If you have a warrior, and a class that can do damage to the enemy quickly, then you will need a healer to complete the group. Springmoon, perhaps you should go as well."

Onyxbane's eyes widened. "No! No, thank you. One extra person who can heal is more than enough."

Feathershine raised her eyebrow again at him, in her classic show of superior amusement.

"I see. Well, I suppose you are right. While you explore… Silithus," she said while overtly eyeing Willypearl, "one priestess will keep you both whole, as well as remind you of Elune's teachings."

"I'm not a lovesick schoolboy, Priestess Feathershine."

Feathershine ignored the complaint.

"You are letting them go alone!" Wisthera bubbled up.

"My duty is to you, my dear. I'm to see that you serve your sentence. Or, as we discussed back in Darnassus, I can turn you into a treant, or a wisp, or perhaps you'd like to scrub the temple, as the novices do."

Wisthera's eyes went wide, but she kept her mouth shut. Once three hippogryphs were ready, Onyxbane and his small party left.

Priestess Feathershine was trying to arrange for a fresh crew form Darnassus to make up for the dock time between Feathermoon and Darkshore while Wisthera wandered as far away from her captor as she dared. She needed to think: Why hadn't she tried to argue a way to go with Onyxbane when he was clearly shacking up with that silly human Willypearl? Why had she stayed behind and said nothing like an idiot? Furthermore, why was she waiting around to do the High Priestess' bidding when Shadowstep warned her very sternly to get the information about the Twilight's Hammer before her group suspected? That meant she needed to get to Silithus, and early. If she stayed with the high priestess, her jailor, it could take forever. Nor could she trust Onyxbane to keep the information to himself. What if he tried to meet her contacts in Cenarion Hold and made it obvious to all of Azeroth that she'd blown her cover? That would ruin her reputation as a spy and master of deception, and no one wanted a rogue who couldn't keep secrets or lie. Furthermore, Wisthera did not want to know what they did to rogues who returned to Darnassus without Shadowstep's information.

Now seemed the pertinent time the leader of her guild had intimated. Her course was clear, the mission already in jeopardy because she had dropped her guard in front of her old boyfriend and said too much. And, then, she didn't even get anything out of it. Wisthera looked at the Hippogryph master and decided there was no other way to do this. She was going to have to be sneaky.

Wisthera shadowmelded. Kaldorei blended into the shadows, appearing invisible all the time. It was a great way to avoid danger in the forest. It was also a way to annoy your parents on an outing, other members of the Alliance, or Horde for that matter, and to beat boredom. There would be nothing suspicious about it, if she didn't do it for too long. Wisthera decided that it wouldn't appear to be for very long, if she then stealthed and dashed over to the Hippgryph master. No one would even miss her.

At first, it worked very well. No one seemed to notice. Some more skilled Night Elves in the inn did see, but she wasn't an enemy, so it wasn't worth calling attention to. Sometimes rogues stealthed because they got bored too, especially Night Elf rogues. It was when she got a few paces from the flight master, and so would need to unstealth to purchase a flight, that Wisthera began to panic.

"Wisthera? Wisthera!" The soaring voice of Priestess Feathershine carried over the sound of gulls and crashing waves, and even the strong smell of salty fish. Again, everyone around was alerted to hear a priestess call out. Wisthera froze.

Priestess Feathershine walked casually up and down the dock. _Where is she?_ Wisthera thought to herself as she watched Feathershine nod her head irritably at passerby. The young rouge liked to think she could read lips. Then the priestess went into the inn, which was connected to the docks and went upstairs, then back down again. She even talked to the innkeeper. _Have you seen a young lady, my height, probably stealthed?_ Another mouthed translation.

_Damn her!_ Wisthera thought as she hid under the steps to the Hippogryph platform that was off to the right of the inn.

Feathershine then called her novice priestesses, like ducklings to her sides, and began pointing in all directions. Orders were no doubt being given. Could she disappear while their backs were turned? The woman moved so fast!

"…and I'll keep watch by the hippogryph master myself." Feathershine was saying as she walked over.

Wisthera crouched low. She could not afford to wait there much longer. Feathershine was an experienced priestess, after a time she _would_ find her, and if not, all the sentinels in the place would be honored to do the bidding of a Priestess of Elune and track down one clumsy rogue in their midst. It was now or never.

Wisthera moved as fast as she could while stealthed. She got right in front of the Hippogryph Master and whispered,

"A flight to Cenarion Hold please."

"What? Who's there?" the flight master asked dumbly, glancing all around.

Wisthera cringed. Her jailor was right on her heels, she could feel it.

"Cenarion Hold! Cenarion Hold! Hurry!"

"Oh, ok. That will be twenty silver. And you'll have to unstealth."

"Dammit!" Wisthera swore. Feathershine was so close she was almost stepping on her.

"Have you seen a young woman, about my height, blue skin and dark green hair, probably stealthed?" High Priestess Feathershine asked. The Flightmaster shook her head no. "Are you sure? You'd want to report her right away, of course. She's an escaped prisoner."

Wisthera wanted to bop the arrogant high priestess on the head. For all intensive purposes, Wisthera was free. She was not in shackles. Wisthera was being forced to serve her sentence in Feathershine's own creative way, but she had been found innocent of an international scam, and the rogues of the Cenarion Enclave had shown clemency, even rewarded her. This little favor for Feathershine was but a temporary inconvenience in Wisthera's eyes.

"Well, there was someone stealthed. I didn't see the features."

"What?"

Wisthera briefly considered running over and jumping off the platform into the ocean. Threshadons seemed better company than this right now. But then, Wisthera had an idea.

A loud squaking was heard behind the two conversing women, as one of the hippogryphs was yanked off its roost, and wrestled to the ground. Both High Priestess Feathermoon and the flight master watched in horror as the bird appeared to have a noisy fight with itself, and then it gave in and took to the air.

"Splotches no!" the flight master yelled.

"Splotches?" Feathershine raised another critical emerald eyebrow.

"Silithus! Silithus!" Wisthera decloaked now that she was on the animal's back and had to concentrate on not falling off.

The bird flew in a few clumsy circles and then, inevitably, headed south.

The flight master was screaming. Priestess Feathershine narrowed her eyes at the sky, raised her forefingers to her temples, focused…

"Dammit!" the priestess yelled, and whistled to her flock. Like mindless chicks they were all about her in their green and yellow robes in an instant.

"You, get that boat and all our supplies headed to Cenarion Hold. You, stay behind and make sure everyone here knows that there is a rogue and a thief that's stolen a hippogryph, and You! Get word to the Temple of Elune that the rogue Wisthera has shirked her sentencing."

"What will you do, High Priestess?" one doe-eyed novice asked.

"I'm going after that dumb, ivy haired, manwrecking…" but the rest of the impending expletives Feathershine grumbled as she rolled up her sleeves and marched off to the flight master.


	8. More bad alcoholic shadow priest jokes

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Eight:

_Week Four of our Journey, and two months since I last saw my sister:_

_The records I've been keeping so far have absorbed the events of my personal life I guess. I think that if this journal was a shield I was crafting, I'd go back and hammer out all the dents, or maybe even start over. But, to change these pages in any way would mean to alter the historical record I've been keeping, and that's just stupid, so I apologize in advance, or maybe not so quite in advance to the reader for having left so many romantic adventures and misadventures in my journal. I never expected to enjoy writing this extra stuff down so much… maybe when this is all said and done, I can read what I've written and laugh with the woman I eventually settle down with. And I mean settle down, because my love life has been far too dramatic recently, and I don't care to waste any more time wasting time, and my sister's overlong absence is clearly the result of my goofing around._

_Now, let's get down to business. I've got to make up for all the pages I wasted writing about my girlfriends. My previous entry was busy with how hot Willypearl is, so I forgot to include a bunch of important details, and this journal was consumed with Wisthera before that. Maybe you were smart, and just skipped ahead to where I was talking about how Willy and I convinced Feathershine to let us go on to Silithus without the group. If so, then good. You got the gist of what happened, and you didn't miss anything. If not then… well I _am _a guy afterall, and I have pretty bad thoughts sometimes, so sorry again. Like I explained earlier, I'm not going to take any of that stuff out, so there's nothing I can do about it._

_Anyways, after a long flight from Darkshore to Cenarion Hold, over canyons and deserts, and lush wilderness, we landed in Silithus. My opinion of this place is not great so far, but not quite as bad as the Burning Steppes, and Blackrock Mountain. I don't mind bugs. Normally you can just step on them. But, the deeper we travel into the vast nothing, and the closer we get to the Twilight cultist camps, the bugs keep getting larger and meaner… I hope I don't develop a phobia when this is all done. When I do settle down, I still want to be a man who can kill nasties that skitter into the house if my wife is the type that begs me to._

_Oh, and before I go on about Silithus, there is something else too. While we were flying down here, I asked Willypearl about the business with the Archmage's ring. All along, I assumed it wasn't her fault, and I know that this matter is settled already in Stormwind, but the trial focused so much on how they messed up Willypearl's life at the convention all those years ago, I realize that she never really was found innocent of the crime, so I'll record our conversation as evidence here._

_According to Willy, the Archmage made it clear to the all the young mages at this "Convention of the Cloth Classes of the Alliance" that there were corrupted novices among the priests. I assume that the priest trainers told their novices the same lie about the mages. Pressure was put on all the young mages and priests during those four days in Stormwind to challenge strangers as well as their friends to reveal any dark intentions. Obviously, the result was that people like my sister became targets. Antisocial people with dark personalities and strange features became prime suspects to those untrained eyes. Then, the Archmage took that witch hunt a bit further. He confided in all the young mages of the Alliance that he had a ring (or more likely several) that could protect anyone who was found to be a demon worshiper, but that those kinds of objects were kept safe from these dangerous individuals for good reasons, and to be assured that nothing in the world could save the evildoers once they were revealed. Of course it was a trap. Who tells a bunch of silly kids that he has a 'secret special ring' in the desk of his office in the bottom left drawer, but that they can't have it? Willypearl knows from experience that those who chose to help targeted individuals were made targets themselves. _

_Willypearl worked through a friend, a novice rogue from Westfall, to have the ring stolen. Then, this rogue friend of hers suggested they get a good Night Elf rogue to trick Opalbane into wearing it. Apparently, that girl already had someone in mind. Since they were so young, and so new to being spineless cheats and cutthroats, the novice rogues used real names, and the willing volunteer, Wisthera, made the mistake of meeting my big sister face to face many times, which wasn't very clever. It would have been much worse for Wisthera if I'd had enough sense to ask for a physical description of the rogue when I went on my vengeful rampage two months ago. But then, that was me being a meathead, yet again._

_Essentially, the Archmage devised a clever plan to root out suspected warlocks and cultists. The, he doubled the fruit of his labors by simultaneously identifying those who would help them. Anyone who stole or wore the Archmage's rings were thrown out of the mage or priest orders. In my opinion, Willypearl passed that silly test. She saw someone who was being unfairly targeted by everyone at the convention, felt it was wrong, and then did something about it. I don't think she would have ever dared steal from the Archmage under normal circumstances, but because she felt the Archmage was wrong, she took a risk and did what she thought was right. For some reason, Willypearl was not arrested for stealing and thrown out of the mage order right away. The Archmage said something about 'her significant talent, and more pressing matters' at the trial. Clearly, by the time the Archmage got back around to it, Willypearl was arranging to meet the strange shadowpriestess Opalbane near to Stormwind, and the result of their finally meeting after all those friendly letters was inevitable. It's tragic that Willypearl was arrested after finally earning my sister's trust. Opal normally doesn't like anyone except for maybe me and the priestesses. All Willy wanted to do was come clean about using a rogue to fool Opal into wearing the ring. Willy exchanged a lot of letters with Opal over the years before proving her good intentions. Then, they were supposed to meet and Willy was going to tell my sister everything so that they could be real friends with no secrets. That, as you know, ended up with my friend Willy in jail and my sister Opalbane running scared all over Azeroth._

_Ok, now back to the business in Cenarion Hold. I took Willy and that priestess up into the watchtower to speak to the man in charge. He's a rogue, imagine my luck, but thankfully, he had not heard of Wisthera. Yes, I asked. I'm always going to ask now; I can't be associated with anyone who thinks well of her. He sent us to the druid in charge (yes, there is a druid _and_ a rogue in charge of this outfit) and that man was not much more helpful, except that I am pretty certain that my sister has a drinking problem. Dear goddess! On top of being orphaned by demons, changing our names, my sister losing her sanity, and being manipulated into this cult, she has to be an alcoholic too! I know this because the head druid explained that Opalbane was thrown out of Cenarion Hold when she got into a loud argument with the innkeeper and threatened her with violence. _

_For the record, this is what she said, and don't dare take it out of context if it ever comes up:_

_The druid said that Opalbane threatened to burn the innkeeper alive by setting her brain on fire, and then said she would take over the shadows of that fractured mind, and make her walk screaming into the dark abysmal maw of one of the Qiraji hives._

_Isn't that delightful? In that recounting, I was both sure he had pegged my sister exactly, and with Willypearl's observations over the years, confirmed that she has an addiction to whatever beverages innkeepers all over Azeroth sell. The drinks either helped her along on her journey or helped her delay the inevitable downward spiral that had become her fate. I am really worried about her. I know that the effects of drink don't really excuse my sister's behavior, but it does explain a lot of her anguish. Willypearl revealed to me that Opalbane smelled of rum when the Stormwind guards first tried to arrest her two months ago. Now, it seems, that detail has become significant. I'll never understand why women think it's polite to keep things from me that might 'hurt my feelings.' I practically missed a whole two months' worth of coming up with alcoholic shadowpriest jokes._

_Oh, no wait, I've got one:_

"_An alcoholic shadow priestess, a paladin, and Thrall walk into a bar. After a few moments of contemplation, the paladin, the Warchief, the bartender and all the other patrons walk right back out."_

_Heh. Ok, here's another:_

"_My friend and I saw these two lovely wenches at the bar. I lost the roll, ended up as the wingman and got stuck with a crazy alcoholic shadow priestess. I thought she liked me at first but when I got into range, she put me in a vampiric embrace. I waited three whole minutes for the debuff to go off, only to get mind flayed when I tried to get that drink away from her. Then, when I tried to separate her from her friend, she mind controlled me and ended up with even more drinks. At last, I challenged her to a duel to get her out of the tavern, which worked great… until she got sober and rejected me outright."_

_Is it funny? Huh? Hahaha! Well, hopefully only a few people will read this, so maybe I'll get lucky and never find out if it isn't._

_Alright, enough of that. It's getting late. The whole point of this entry is I'm so glad that I am with Willypearl now and not Wisthera. Willypearl is truly a treasure. Plus, she's soo hot. Did I mention that already? Also there's something pretty alluring about a woman who could set you on fire or freeze you dead with a half a thought. Any guys out there ever think of that? Well, I have…_a lot.

… _Oh, and I know what you're thinking. No, we haven't done anything yet, but this is hardly the time, is it?_


	9. Who's cheating on whom now?

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Nine:

_Beyond learning exactly why my sister was not at Cenarion Hold when we arrived, we found little more information about where she went, and with whom. As we sat there, stranded for a lack of information, my anger with Wisthera grew, and I decided that I didn't care what happened to her career. I asked a lot of loud questions and actually did a great job of making certain people nervous. Her contacts were eventually compelled to surprise me in a dark corner, with my healer shadowmelded nearby of course._

_I had my helmet on. You couldn't see my face. My blue plate was polished, as usual, and then… there was the Reaper. I held it the way a warrior is supposed to hold his weapon, like he has every intention of using it, and well, without hesitation._

_I took pleasure in blowing Wisthera's cover. I told them I was Opalbane's brother, and eventually removed my helmet to prove it. We look very much alike, almost like twins. Reluctantly, they gave in._

_But, what information they had did not help us to find her, exactly. The rogues waiting for Shadowstep's agent had only been observing Opalbane, and told us which Twilight cultist camps to check. They never told me their names, but two human men spoke to me. I'm sorry to say that I think there was an orc with them too, though he rarely spoke in his heavily accented Common and remained in the background. I don't think they wanted to be seen together. They also admitted that, from what they could tell, she had gone of her own will, and was complying with everything they asked of her. That terrifies me. I hope to Elune her behavior is evidence of the opposite. I just can't believe that my sister would willingly do something like that. The information was not given to me for free, however. I told them everything I knew about Wisthera, and shared additional information about Opalbane and myself. I don't care what they do with it, as long as I find my sister. They seem to think that my family was being targeted by the demons in Felwood, and my instinct tells me that… well, they've already been busy digging into my family history. But, I think it's all nonsense._

_This journal is now my most powerful weapon against those who would act against my family. The rogues in Silithus do not know that I've recorded everything that they said against my sister, or about their true intentions. I will never tell anyone what they shared with me, as I promised, but it is all here in ink, isn't it? And I'm a warrior, not a cutthroat. I will give this journal to whoever can ensure that my sister and I will be safe._

_I am up late, guarding Willypearl and the novice priestess Windsong as they sleep. As I write this, I can't help but be grateful for the friends I've made in my life. Those in Westfall brought me to Willypearl, and Willypearl helped me to save my sister. Priestess Feathershine has become a powerful ally and advocate for my sister in I, in a world that still feels too big. At the end of each day, even under all this plate, and with the Reaper firm in my grasp, I still feel like the little boy who watched his parents die, who was still too young to even remember such a terrible loss, that grieving for them was even robbed from me. People say that you can't miss what you've never had, but I do every day. _

_And, after all this searching, after sifting through all these friends and enemies, if I lose her… the one person I remember, and have been able to keep, well then I don't see how I can go on. Nothing could replace Opalbane. Let her be a cultist, let her be a warlock, a shadow priestess, a villain, but don't let her die. Please don't let her be lost._

"You're up late, aren't you?" Willypearl joined Onyxbane at the cave entrance. The place they chose to make camp for the night was a small grotto that kept the wind out, and all around it was dry sand that even the scorpids wouldn't bother with. Nevertheless, in case they were being followed, Onyxbane insisted on keeping watch.

"Yes, I guess I am." Onyxbane quickly hid his journal in the backpack he'd brought. Back at Cenarion Hold, Onyxbane traded what was left of his ink for a lead pencil, since they would be on foot mostly. At least on the ship, the ink had time to dry. Pencils were more ideal for travel on foot. Unfortunately, they hadn't brought any mounts with them and there were none to spare or hire from the druids.

"Onyxbane, honey, you've been very down lately. I'm worried about you."

"It's because we've been here for a while, and we haven't found her yet."

"It's only been a few days, though."

"It's been months, really. More than two. And she's been wandering Azeroth all this time, without a friend."

Willypearl smiled sadly. "She has us, honey."

"I didn't want to say anything about this earlier but… you should know, in case anything happens. My sister never trusted you."

Willypearl looked a bit hurt, but then the pain in her expression was gone. "That makes sense. I was reaching out to her for years, trying to convince her that I cared, and wanted to help, all through letters."

"I don't blame her hesitation, your kindness is a rare thing. I couldn't believe it myself when we met in Westfall, and you told me how you knew my sister. She never mentioned you."

Willypearl smiled sadly. "I just wanted to help her. The Archmage said he would do terrible things to people like her… but I didn't agree with what he or the others said. Your sister is very sad, and angry, but she is not an evil person."

"No she isn't." Onyxbane forced a smile, and then leaned in and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek.

Willypearl rubbed his back for a quiet moment and then looked up at the stars. "Maybe there's bugs and bugs, but them stars are pretty, ain't they?"

"Yes, they are."

"And… Novice Windsong is asleep, isn't she?"

Onyxbane nodded. But wasn't that obvious? "And… there's something I've been dreaming of for years, and even if this isn't the best time, well, I've learned that there is never a good time for these things, is there? I don't want to waste a night like this." Willypearl nestled in close to the tall Night Elf, who was still a whole head taller than her when he sat.

"Take off your armor, Onyxbane. You can't sleep in that."

"Oh?" Onyxbane looked into her eyes. They were rich and dark. They reflected the stars.

"Yes, and… it's a cold night. You need more than covers to be warm honey. Come inside, and I can help you with that."

Onyxbane smiled. He thought about the timing, about his sister, but then decided that maybe Willypearl was right. Maybe if he even got into a better mood, it might make the search easier.

"Alright."

The gentle snoring of the young priestess mere feet away from them only encouraged the young lovers to indulge. Warm under the simple blankets and with the help of body heat, they soon forgot where they were, or why. Kisses were most important now, whispered and perhaps empty declarations of love were tossed into the narrow air space between them, and as the heat escalated, more clothing was removed, the stakes of their escape from terrible reality higher.

Finally, Willypearl stopped Onyxbane, who was well on his way to finishing things. "No. Wait."

"What?" he said, but went in for another kiss.

"I… Honey, I have to tell you something."

"Can it wait? I love it when you call me that…"

"Onyxbane, please. Please." Willypearl's tone got very serious, and Onyxbane inhaled deeply to calm himself.

"I'm sorry. I was being stupid. What is it, Willy?"

Willypearl cleared her throat, looking all around them in the darkness. The priestess' snoring rolled on.

"I'm engaged."

Onyxbane gagged a little.

"His name is Elec. I care for him deeply. He's a paladin I met after you all left Westfall, especially you, Onyxbane. But, things got very serious without you there. Elec is a good man, and he stuck by my side for years, even when I was put in the Stockades, he stuck to his guns. He didn't listen to what the other men of his order said. And… when I got out, he was right there, on his knee, with a ring. I… I didn't know what to say."

"You said yes."

"I… I said that I would think about it. But he put the ring on my finger anyway. He told me not to think too long. It was very kind of him to give me time, and I can understand that he would want other men to know that I was at least spoken for."

"So, he made a Wreathe Day out of it." Onxybane reached down under the covers and felt for Willypearl's hand. The simple gold band she wore was there, as it had always been. Only, this time he knew it wasn't just jewelry. Night Elves rarely wore jewelry, and after a few horribly embarrassing encounters with human women, Onyxbane gave up on guessing who was married and who wasn't.

"Excuse me?"

"It's a Kaldorei thing. If you're not sure you want to marry someone, but you _are_ sure that it's a good idea, you give them a wreathe."

"Then what happens?"

"Then… I pay for all the meals, treats, and shopping for the entire day, and usually… well the whole point of a Wreathe Day is for the couple to have sex really, for the first time."

"Oh my," Willypearl worried.

"So, what are you going to do?"

Willypearl balked. "You… ain't gonna stop me?"

Onyxbane roved his eyes around a bit in the dark. "Um… no. Why should I?"

"You… don't think it's wrong?"

He shrugged. "No. I like you. And this feels good, doesn't it? Why stop?"

"But… I could break his heart, I could ruin his life. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Onyxbane brought Willypearl's hand up to his mouth and kissed it. It was her ring finger, but that didn't cause the male elf to hesitate in the least. She winced happily.

"You mean a lot to me. You always have. If this guy misses out, well, that's his fault. You're mine now."

"You sound… positively ungentlemanly! Onyx, I'm very surprised at you."

"Do you like it?" Onyxbane chuckled softly, and tried to pick up where things left off. But Willypearl struggled.

"This is not how I imagined it at all." She protested.

"How did you want it?" Onyxbane asked, but it sounded more like he was asking about personal preference, not the longings of the heart.

"I've loved you. I never told you how much I suffered… it was so embarrassing, and I didn't want to frighten you away. But, even when I met Elec, the perfect man, a paladin, and a knight, I could not stop thinking about you, dreaming about you. You are like any human man as far as personality, but your body, your heart, are so exotic, unbelievable perfect in every way. I kept wishing I was with you instead. Onyx, it was more than just some crush. I thought, I still think that you are meant for me, and I had to risk everything to come on this trip and find out if I was just dreaming."

Onyxbane had to pause. Never had he heard anything so touching. "Now I really want you, he breathed over her. You're so sweet," he said, and went in for the kill.

"Don't you feel the same about me?"

A woman's scream pierced the air, and it resounded off the walls of the little cave. The priestess was up in an instant, and she immediately checked to where she knew her comrade, the human mage lay. When she saw Willypearl and Onyxbane together, the young night elf's eyes went wide, and Willypearl looked very embarrassed, but Onyxbane only smirked proudly.

"What was that?" the novice wrapped her blanket around herself, and tried not to look at her party members, who were quickly getting dressed. Onyxbane had his helmet and breastplate on, and the Reaper in his hands, not bothering to put on a shirt. Before the ladies could object, he was at the mouth of the cave. Willypearl, also swathed in a blanket, had her hands poised in front of her, calling mana for a frost, or perhaps polymorph spell. The priestess summoned her holy shield, and had her staff in hand.

"Oh goddess! Arrrgh!" the voice screamed again. Onyxbane peered into the dark night, and then waved the women off.

"Don't go! It could be dangerous!" Willypearl warned, but the novice had dropped her guard completely. Onyxbane disappeared into the night. Willypearl looked from the young woman and then into the dark horizon, and remembered a key thing about night elves: they could see in the dark.

"Who is it, then—" she was asking when it suddenly became painfully obvious.

"Onyxbane! Oh, how I hate you, I hate you! Don't touch me! Don't dare TOUCH ME. Let me go, you idiot, you stupid, prancing male elf!"

Willypearl used her powers to reignite the camp fire, and sure enough the voice matched with the person exactly. Onyxbane was holding Wisthera fiercely against his chest, though she was cursing the stars down out of heaven and onto his head. Her hair was dirty and mussed, her clothes were torn, and grains of sand slipped from imbetween the seams of her crude leather armor. And, as if that weren't enough, a huge scorpid stinger had speared itself through her left foot.

"Novice Windsong, can you do anything about this? I was afraid to remove the stinger myself, but killing the damn thing was easy."

"Yes, just hold her still…"

"What is she even doing here? Willypearl asked, but no one answered her. She watched helplessly as Onyxbane climbed on top of raging Wishtera to hold her down. It was a position she was now envious of.

"You blew my cover, you bastard! I sneaked down here to make sure that you didn't, but you ruined everything! And for what? They laughed at me, do you know they already sent word to Shadowstep? Do you know that Feathershine no doubt sent word as well? I'm a wanted woman because of you! On top of it all, I got stung by a damn bug trying to sneak up on you. Oh, how I HATE you Onyxbane!"

"Oh, shut up, Wisthera." Willypearl tried to defend her new boyfriend.

"Oh, shut up Wisthera." Wisthera mocked her, and was about to say something worse when the priestess removed the huge yellow stinger, and she cried out.

"It's okay, Sara, just calm down. I'm here. You're going to be alright."

"Sara?" Willypearl challenged Onyxbane, but she knew what it was. It was some kind of pet name for his ex girlfriend.

"Shh. Willypearl, just be quiet for a sec. Sara, Sara, are you with me? Don't fall asleep. You have to stay awake." Onyxbane was completely focused on this other woman.

"I was able to heal her wounds, but I'm afraid the cleansing spell failed. I was never very good at it--." The novice fretted.

"Is she going to die?" Onyxbane sounded mournful already.

"No, it's just scorpid poison. But she could lose her foot if she doesn't rest. I think I have some anti-venom in my bag, but you must calm her down, or else she could get a bad fever."

"And you!" Wisthera turned her jealous gaze onto Willypearl. "I hate you. How dare you--"

"I didn't _do_ anything, honey."

"Don't call me that!" Wisthera roared. She twisted and lashed out under Onyxbane's fierce hold, but then she strained something and cried out in pain.

"Willy—"

"And, I don't know where you get off, trying to get sympathy like this." Willypearl continued.

"Willy," Onyxbane tried again.

"And you keep your hands off Onyxbane; he's suffered enough because of you, and—"

"Willypearl!" Onyxbane shouted at the human mage rather rudely.

"I think you and the priestess had better leave. She's too upset with you here. I think it's safe enough outside with that lone scorpid taken care of. I've checked. Take your things…"

That was the last thing Onyxbane said to her. That was the last reasonable thing he said before the arguing inside the cave subsided, and the whispered declarations of love began, and then came the physical act of love, or lust or whatever it was between Onyxbane and Wisthera. Willypearl and the novice priestess made another fire and spread their bedrolls outside, but they might as well have been back inside the cave. The lovemaking eventually got so loud, Willypearl couldn't sleep. It was so deafening, Willypearl decided she would never look at Onyxbane the same way again. Why hadn't she guessed that Onyxbane was just like everyone else? Then, Willypearl cried.


	10. The perfect man trap

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Ten:

The next morning felt to Onyxbane like one he'd seen before, about two months earlier. But, where there should have been a crude dwarven bed, not quite big enough for the both of them, there was the cold stone floor of a cave. Where dingy gray curtains should have held off most of the yellow light of morning, the eerie rusty sunlight of the Silithus desert exploded through the wide cave mouth. It was almost blinding. Onyx peered out into the world beyond, knew that Willypearl and the novice priestess were out there somewhere, perhaps immediately in front of the cave entrance, but could not be entirely sure. Whoever was out there could see everything he and Wisthera had done the night before, but for the light, he could not see them, and it was like his betrayal had been put up on a dais or a scaffold for all to see.

"Oh no…" Onyxbane groaned, and sat up covering his eyes.

The woman who had been nearly impossible to see, stealthed in the sunlight back on the ship deck, was now as carnal as anything else in the world. The sweet smell of bodies was thick in the cave, and there was no way to deny what had happened, and who it had happened with.

"Are you happy?" Wisthera asked quietly, where she lay undressed beside Onyxbane.

Onyxbane was swearing for a solid minute before he realized his recent bedmate was genuinely concerned for him, and not being sarcastic.

"I… don't know."

"You called me Sara last night."

"Ya, I remember that." But Onyxbane looked regretful.

"You used to do that when… back when we were with the dwarves and the dragons." Saying the name of the cursed region of Azeroth where they had fallen in love seemed risky now, like it would harken back the dark lies within the relationship as well as the good feelings.

"Onyxbane," Wisthera folded her hands over her stomach while she spoke. While Onyxbane looked eager to leave the bed, she dared not stir too much. "I want you to know that I didn't do this on purpose. I had a horrible time on that hippogryph. I got lost, and dragged through treetops… but that is not important. What I would like to say is that I was very angry with you. I had every intention of coming in here, and yelling at you. Stepping on that damned scorpid was truly an accident."

"Oh? So you were going to box my ears for ruining your reputation, but felt the need to sneak up on our camp?"

"Onyx! It's what rogues do. I didn't want to startle you, especially if you were keeping watch."

"That doesn't make any sense. You did it on purpose, to keep me and Willy from—" Onyx stopped himself too late.

"…What?" Wisthera's eyes went wide, and she sat up as well. "Wait, you two were about to..."

Onyxbane looked away. "You hadn't been intimate with her at all before?" Wisthera prodded further.

"No." Onyxbane tried to explain, but he wasn't sure if he was getting himself out of trouble or deeper in. "We're looking for my sister for goddess' sake! I couldn't do something like that on the boat."

"But here, without Priestess Feathershine around…" Wisthera began to laugh, "but a novice will do, won't she? You're just as bad as I am aren't you? That's how we ended up like this. We were both starved for attention, starved for love, and as soon as an opportunity presents itself—"

"It's not like that, Wisthera," Onyxbane scowled at her. "You got me at a bad time, made me worried about you. I care for Willy. You know, she's been in love with me for pretty much her entire life, and she's even engaged, but she came on this trip to—"

"Aha! So the innocent virgin isn't so purehearted afterall? She didn't come here for Opalbane, she came here for you."

"She did not!"

"She did. Whether or not she really wants to help your sister is secondary in her mind. Or, rather, she convinced herself that she came for your sister, but was really being very selfish, and seduced you as soon as she had the chance."

Onyxbane was saying that it wasn't true and was about to leave when Wisthera yanked him back down on the bed beside her.

"You two kissed didn't you? On the boat."

"How did you even know tha—"

"I listen to things. Besides, one of those snobby novices reported it back to Feathershine while she thought I was resting my eyes." Wisthera smiled, very satisfied with her roguish deceptiveness. "What did she look like when she came into your room that night?"

Onyxbane sputtered, but then said, "Well, she was wearing this nightgown thing."

"What color was it?"

"It was like, a peach."

"Oh? And how was her hair? Her eyes? You look to be enjoying the memory of it. The dress must have been very revealing."

Onyxbane tried to deny that he'd been attracted to the human mage in that moment, but failed. "Well, so what? Maybe she just made it herself, and wanted to wear it."

"She wanted to wear it for you, Onyx. She wanted you to see her in it. She probably even made it for the occasion. Believe me, it is far easier for a woman to remember to cover herself if she doesn't want the wrong attention from a man. I also wonder just whose idea it was to break away from the group and go ahead to Silithus alone with no healer!"

"There is no way that Willy would do something like that on purpose. She's too nice for that."

"Just like I'm too nice and sweet to be a con artist? You see how that works?" Wisthera smiled devilishly.

"It's different. You're a rogue, and a liar."

"And Willypearl hired _me_ all those years ago. Willypearl got the idea to steal the ring, not her contact in Westfall, not me. Willypearl is the one who put me up to it."

"She was doing the right thing, or else they would have put my sister in shackles!"

"And when presented with the mission, I knew the risks, but I accepted. What was the ring to me back then? You act like I was in league with the Archmage, or worse, the Twilight Hammer, but I was ignorant of all this. The ring was something that could save a certain young priestess, if only someone smart could get her to wear it. I was that brilliant person who tricked her into it. I did not do this by lying to her, and sending her gifts and letters for years so that she would give in and like me. I told your sister what I believed to be the truth, that an order of mages was after her, and if she didn't wear the ring, she would be hunted down."

Onyxbane frowned but he didn't know what to say. "You're… distorting the truth."

"Am I? Or is the real possibility that I am a good person, just like Willypearl, or your sister so hard for you to accept? We all have dark sides, Onyxbane. Not one of us is one way or another. Yes, I took advantage Opalbane and Willypearl, asking them for things when I could have learned to earn money for myself. And there are tons of other people that I lied to and stole from my whole life. Yes, maybe I have a big problem with scamming people. But I _am_ a rogue afterall. And, recently, Priestess Feathershine has helped me to see how some of the darker arts of my profession can really hurt people, especially those that I love."

Onyxbane thought for a moment, and then said, "It's too late to switch places with Willypearl. What you did was wrong, and you can't take it back."

"I know that. Onyxbane, I'm truly sorry—"

"And you can't just apologize for it either. Just because I slept with you… it's because you drive me crazy. Everything was so confusing last night, and I didn't mean it."

"I don't think so, Onyx. You slept with me because you wanted to. You could have put me out, left me with the priestess in the sands, or the far end of this cave. But you saw how hurt I was, how upset, and you were worried for me. When I cried out, you kissed me. When I was too ashamed of how I failed to come to Silithus and scream at you with at least some dignity, you held me close, and told me that I was beautiful. When I said that I still loved you, you… you remember what you said, Onyxbane."

"Yes, I do."

"Did you mean it?" Wisthera took his hand in her own, and looked into Onyxbane's shining yellow eyes.

"It's too late for us, Wisthera. You lied to me. Maybe I slipped this time, but… I just broke my friend's heart, and before that my sister went missing because I was running around with you. I just can't risk hurting another person for you, Wisthera."

Wisthera thought about his words quietly and then said, "Exactly the kind of answer a stupid warrior would give. You're an idiot Onyxbane. I see you for who you really are, a feral nightsaber. Always ready for adventure and mischief, always in heat. You think of yourself as some knight, but you aren't a human, my love. You are kaldorei. There is a part of you that will always want a woman, no matter how desperate the situation. You need to be petted, your pride and ego stroked at every available moment. Only a woman more arrogant than you are could do that for you, for she would see herself in you, and never fail to tend to herself. Furthermore, this bold, and shameless woman would do everything for you, even steal, and lie and kill for you because she would raise you above all else. You need to have someone by your side as dangerous as that.

"The humans call this selfishness, or perhaps a kind of madness, but I call it love. It is a wise woman who can see herself in her lover, and a good kaldorei man knows that his woman is very much like himself. None of us is perfect, Onyx, and in that lies the perfection. We are both light and dark, right and wrong, beasts as well as sentient beings. I accepted this about myself a long time ago, and that is why I am able to be a rogue. I don't see cheating and stealing and stealth as wrong, but they are like the talons an owl must use to kill and feed her chicks. It is my talent, just as striking foes down with exquisite heavy objects is yours. When we accept how truly blended we are, capable of great good as well as evil, we begin to truly love each other. And, I do love you.

"You can look at that human, you can touch her. You can wish you were with someone as pure and blameless as a priestess, but that will never be. You couldn't stand it. That is why, last night, when you could have had something like that, you turned it down. You had me the way you wanted me: a dangerous woman who was a thief, and a liar, and finally at your mercy. You punished me last night. You showed me what I could have had if only I'd been more of a good girl." and then, clearly recalling the passion of the night they'd spent together, Wisthera kissed Onyxbane's bare shoulder. "I think you forgave me last night, Onyx. Nor did I miss that it was also final warning. Oh, Onyx, I promise, for the rest of my life, never to hurt you again. You own me now. You've played into my arrogance, by showing me the kind of emotion I can raise within you, and now that I know, I could never forsake that sweet addiction."

Onyx looked down at Wisthera amazed. "You're wrong. The humans of Stormwind, the dwarves of Ironforge, the gnomes of Gnomeregan, even the troll, and tauren, and orcs are all right about us. We are self-riteous, arrogant fools. We love only ourselves, and that was why I was capable of hurting Willypearl last night.

Wisthera shook her head. "No. Think to your homeland, Onyx. Think to those who raised you. The priestesses love a goddess more beautiful than themselves, and she in turn bestows her beauty on them and the lands we love. The truth is, we _are_ better than the rest of Azeroth. We know that there is nothing more profound than who we already are, and there is no need to change that. Perhaps when you can accept yourself, you can love me too. And, unlike Willypearl or the priestess, I would wait forever."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Wisthera. All Kaldorei are mortal now, and even you couldn't scheme your way into something like that."

"Then, I suggest you don't keep me waiting." Wisthera said simply, and gave Onyxbane a passionate kiss. She waited until he gave into it, then pulled back and left him lingering to prove her point. Then, in her old way, she began to purr.

"You will see. You will apologize to her, and she will reject you, because she is not one of us." The dazzling blue female elf said as she squeezed herself back into her primitive leather armor. "But then, you will not come to me and beg for forgiveness. That is beneath you, and I'll not have my Onyxbane demean himself. You are far better than that, better than all of them put together. And I will be happy to prove it to you, as soon as you are ready, love."

Then, Wisthera swept her long ivy green hair back over her shoulder and walked into the blinding morning light until it enveloped her and she was gone.


	11. Take me back, I'm beggin' pleaase

Episode Eleven:

Onyxbane found Willypearl with the priestess, packing up camp outside. The gentle human woman was startled when he came up to her, but then said in a shaking voice that 'his girlfriend had taken some water and gone to bathe.'

"She's not my girlfriend. You are." Onyxbane said, and took Willypearl's arm to pull her aside.

Willypearl quickly broke out of his grasp.

"No, I'm not. I never was. I'm… engaged to Elec, and what I was doing with you was stupid."

"Willy, that's not true. I made a terrible mistake, but I'm sorry."

"Maybe you are." Willypearl eyed the novice priestess who quickly pretended she had something else important to do, a few feet away. "But it's obvious what happened last night. I had to listen to that, and I can't forget it."

"No, Willy, don't do this."

"Do what? Throw my life with Elec away? Risk everything on a man who is in love with rogue? You know, I never really disliked Wisthera, she's a good person I think, just misguided. I got a little jealous of her while we were on the boat, but that was because I was busy chasing you. Heck, Wisthera was careful to make me jealous, and she was right to do it."

"Huh?" Onyxbane had a dumb look on his face.

"You belong to her Onyx. Honey, you have for a long time, but you didn't know it. I… even knew there was something going on, but I wanted to try my lot first and see."

Onyxbane balked. So, Wisthera was right.

"Now that I know… I can go back to Elec."

"But that's what I'm worried about, Willy. You don't sound like you're happy with him."

Willypearl dropped the bedroll she was folding and laughed right out loud. It was cruel laughter.

"Elec? Elec is the nicest guy on the face in Azeroth. He's from a nice family that breeds champion chargers in Eastvale Logging camp, and they even contribute studs to the Silver Hand when they need them. In fact, his whole family has been affiliated with the Silver Hand since the beginning of time, all famous paladins! Did you know that? And, he looks way better in that golden plate than you ever will, tells better jokes, and doesn't sleep with everything that moves."

Onyxbane was suddenly afraid of Willypearl. He'd never seen her angry before, and she looked close to madness.

"And you know what? I have a very good thing goin' back home. I meet one Night Elf in Westfall, and because I'm so danged shy, I don't have enough sense to have a fling with you and get rejected _before_ I meet Elec. Sure, it's at the tail end of my engagement, but at least now I got it out of the way. The worst thing about my Elec is that he risked his entire reputation on someone like me in the first place. I've got no land of my own, a scattered family, and now I have a criminal record."

"Stormwind found you innocent Willy," Onyxbane comforted her awkwardly. Was she making fun of him?

"Sure, sure. All thanks to you and your girlfriend." Then, Willypearl paused, and drew a calming breath. "Look, honey. I'm not mad at you, really. Well, not entirely. I'm more mad at myself for doing something so dumb. I have a good man back home, and I almost ruined it. Really, I already knew what I learned last night. All men are the same. You may look like a god, but deep down, you're someone with feelings, and who makes mistakes, just like the rest of us. I guess… I was swept up in the glamour of it all, and wanted the fantasy to be real, cause I believed in it for so long. But, it ain't. And, actually, life ain't that bad now that I know the truth. I can go home now, with a clear conscience and apologize."

"Wait, you're going to tell him what we did?"

Willypearl shrugged. "I have to, honey. He's gonna wonder why I ran off when he proposed, and I don't want to lie to him. He deserves better'n that. Wouldn't you tell the truth? Or did I misjudge you again?"

Onyxbane scratched his head furiously. "Um… no. Why risk it?"

"I already risked it. I couldn't live with myself if I kept on this way, after I've been keepin' on loving you for absolutely no reason at all. That was torture."

"But if he doesn't forgive you, you could lose everything."

"Well, I hope to the light that he can forgive a poor, dumb country girl, who didn't think she could do any better than what the Defias took from her. Maybe he'll even understand."

Onyxbane shook his head slowly in disbelief. "I really don't understand the humans at all."

"No, you don't. And I don't understand you, caring for that girl who's done nothin' but play games and lie to you this whole time. Wisthera may be misunderstood, but I don't think she'll make a great wife."

"Oh no?" Onyxbane wondered aloud. "She told me the very opposite."

"Honey, was that while she came in pretending to be hurt, while she was on top of you, or after? Cause the novice Windsong and I heard it all, and it was hardly convincin'."

Onyxbane just stared. Willypearl could be pretty mean if she wanted to.

"It was… after."

"Then I suggest you eat some breakfast before all that lust as well as hunger get to your head and you do somethin' you regret like propose to Miss Wisthera."

Onyxbane waited while Willypearl conjured up some cinnamon rolls and water, before working up the courage to ask,

"Um… if you think Wisthera's such a bad match for me, then who would you suggest?"

"Wait, you want me to suggest your newest conquest after you stomped all over my heart like that?" she was really yelling at him, and Onyxbane suddenly wished he had the Reaper by his side.

"You stupid, prancin' male elf! If you want someone so perfect why don't you just go and marry one of them priestesses you all are always goin' on and on about. Clearly, us normal women ain't good enough for the likes of Onyxbane." Then, she threw his breakfast at him and left.

But as he ate, Onyxbane was starting to wonder if it wasn't such a bad idea…


	12. Don't laugh at Onyxbane, it's not funny

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Twelve:

_Week Four of our Journey:_

_So, did you get all that? I hope someone understands what just happened to me and why, because I'm still reeling. I just went back and read my record of yesterday, and I still can't believe it. _

_First, Willy turns out to be engaged, then I manage to cheat on her before I even get to sleep with her. Then, Wisthera comes along, and I take her to bed. And… Willypearl is mad at me for sleeping with another woman, while she's been cheating on this Elec guy for the past few days. Meanwhile, Wisthera finds out about my attempt to sleep with Willypearl, and eventhough I tell her I still want to go back to Willy, Wisthera doesn't mind at all. In fact, Wisthera doesn't mind the meaningless sex we had and encourages me to run after all these different women. And then, she kept saying things like I own her, and if I come back to her I won't even have to beg._

_What the…_

_Okay, I'm calming down now. Wisthera can get pretty speechy sometimes, and I guess that's part of being a rogue and tricking everyone into doing what you'd like. She can talk fast and make a lot of sense. But, eventhough my head keeps saying that she's lying again, I have this gut feeling that what she said about Night Elf men and women being made for each other isn't too far from the truth. I never really thought of myself as arrogant, but it would explain all the trouble I've been getting into. I guess it takes a pretty self-involved guy to think that someone like Willy would just be okay with a man cheating on her with his ex, after she was so nice to both of them… I think. It's not like I've never been in a relationship before. I know that there are some things you just don't do if you want to keep a good woman. I guess I thought that Willy would agree that Wisthera was manipulating me and that it's not really my fault._

_But, who am I kidding? I guess that's what I'd rather believe, that when I saw how hurt and upset Wisthera was, I fell for her, not that I panicked and tried to take control of the situation by making love to her so that she would forget the pain. And, I guess a really arrogant guy would think that he could make a woman feel so good that she'd forget a large insect tried to take her foot off with his dagger-like stinger. Ok, I guess at the end of the day, I'm still a Kaldorei, which means I think a whole lot of myself and very little of anyone else. And, ever since Westfall, I thought I'd overcome that trait of my race. I also thought that I'd put Wisthera behind me. And poor Willy. I don't know if she'll ever speak to me again. I don't think there is a way to fix this. Wisthera is far too volatile for me, and Willypearl is clearly too good for me._

_You know, it occurred to me yesterday that Priestess Feathershine was right about me. Well, she disapproved of both Wisthera and Willypearl, and she's known me my entire life. _

_And here's something funny. She hasn't aged a day since she took Opal and I in. I think it's because she was born before the World Tree was damaged. She still looks like the young woman that used to sing me songs and make me hot kimchee when I cried. So, she looks about my age, though she's much older than I am. After I grew up a bit, I remember that I used to dream about her. Based on what I've been telling you about myself, you're probably taking this the wrong way. I didn't have _those_ kinds of dreams you know. What I mean is, at night, I used to close my eyes and see her in the twilight forest. And then, I'd see myself, running to her, chasing her. She'd always be laughing and running to me too, hugging me. She'd call me her 'dear one', but it was because she cared for me. She would embrace me with these rosebud colored arms, and her jade green hair would fall over both of us, while I smiled and laughed._

_At that time, I was still living with the priestesses, and they told me I was really dreaming about Elune, expressing a desire to thank her for saving Opal and I from the Legion (and yes, that was how clean my mind was back then, I went around telling the priestesses about my dreams quite innocently). It was some years later, when I was off training to be a warrior on my own that I realized it was Feathershine I wanted. _

_Those priestesses were kind to me, but they weren't my mothers. I have a mother. She was pale like Opal, and smelled like warm bread, but then the demons came and she died. I had a father too, dark like midnight, and a fierce looking man. I never wanted to get into trouble with him. He died as well. That is all I remember about them. Maybe Opal feels differently, but I knew that those priestesses were not my parents. They were pretty, loving women, and Feathershine was the loveliest of them all._

_Maybe if I write a bit more, I can sort all this out. Don't laugh, but I think Priestess Feathershine likes me. Didn't you notice it? Sometimes, she says and does things that are a bit possessive, doesn't she? The way she always shooed Wisthera away from me like she had a broom, and the way that she disapproved of Willy, who is probably the sweetest woman in all the world. Wouldn't a mother type person encourage something between me and Willy? She really didn't want us to go off together to Silithus. Wisthera is right that Willy was pretty eager for us to be alone, I'll give her that. But, I think Feathershine must have seen it too, or else she would not have sent that healer with us._

_Yep, it's pretty clear now. She's jealous of Wisthera, and that's why she's been torturing her. She couldn't oppose Willy and I going ahead of the group, because it _was_ mostly about finding my sister, but she did send someone along who was supposed to discourage anything intimate between us. And then, Wisthera also said Feathershine had been listening in when Willy came to my cabin that night on the ship. Priestess Feathershine must be reluctant to say anything, since I'm so much younger than her, but I think there's something there. Shouldn't I find out what it is?_

_If Priestess Feathershine is interested in me, that would be amazing. Kaldorei priestesses can marry, unlike human ones, so those of you in Stormwind shouldn't think that there is anything unsavory going on here. For your information, I've seen men in Darnassus look her over, and I've even heard rumors that Shadowstep, the head of the rogue order in the Cenarion Enclave has a thing for her. When I was younger, I heard the novice priestesses gossiping all the time about Feathershine. There was always a story about some guy who came along, wanting to see Feathershine privately, and then Shadowstep would suddenly find him suspicious, or turn out to have urgent business with him first. Afterwards, the visitor would insist he had no time to return to the Temple of Elune._

_Strange, huh? And, even stranger that I listened to women talking when I should have been out playing with the other little boys. Well, after the first two years at the Temple of Elune, all the other kids were adopted, and it was just me, my mad sister, and all those women. So, I'm actually flattered that Feathershine might take an interest in me. Beyond that, she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and I'd really be a meathead if I let that opportunity get by me. I know I've described Willy as "hot" and my attraction to Wisthera as an addiction, but to me, Feathershine is just plain beautiful. She has a majestic grace that few women have, a strong, compassionate heart that can resolve situations on the battlefield, as well as with the ones she loves at home. All those novices hang off her every word because they respect her, not because she threatens them. I respect her as well. Priestess Feathershine is wonderful really. Her beauty is like the full moon. A man is lucky that the moon shines on him and lights up his world. And I'm sure that if a Kaldorei ever got the chance to give back…Maybe, after all we've been through together, after she's helped me to find welcome in this world after losing nearly everything, I can return to her a glimmer of that kindness and love her back. Maybe if things go really well… wow I am a lucky guy. If after all this confusion, I end up with someone like Priestess Feathershine, it will have been worth it. In fact, I find I like the idea more now than when Willy first suggested it._

_Later the same day:_

_We found the Twilight Cultist camp that Opal is in. I actually saw her from very far away, but Wisthera insisted on being certain and stealthed in a bit closer to make sure. It's definitely her alright. This is the best news I've had in a long time. My sister is alive and well, besides walking, talking, and living in her shadow form. The others want to wait until we get news from Priestess Feathershine, but I saw a bunch of those guy cultists looking at my sister in a way that makes my skin crawl. I don't care what these ladies think. I'm sharpening the Reaper tonight, and tomorrow, we are getting Opal out!_


	13. Opal's mad cause of the jokes, I bet

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Thirteen:

The Twilight Cultist camp was a series of crude tents, supply wagons and bonfires clustered around spooky burnt orange crystals that jutted violently up out of the gray ground. A kind of thick red vapor emanated from the crystals, and Wisthera reported to Willypearl, Onyxbane, and the novice priestess Windsong that she'd seen warlocks and their demon pets guarding the stones. While scouting for Opalbane, Wisthera had also observed cultists wandering about in dazed circles. It was like they were all possessed by some unknown force and went dumbly about their simple tasks, delivering texts to their fellows, and patrolling the warlocks whose hands were busy siphoning some kind of green magic from the crystal. These casters seemed to remain in a trancelike state, no matter who walked by them, but Wisthera warned that as a rogue, she'd rather sap someone and keep them incapacitated than take the chance that they'd care whether you were beating up their friend or not.

"Opalbane is locked in some kind of pattern of her own." Wisthera explained to them. "She wanders, always with her shadowform up, in a counter clockwise path around the crystal in the middle, and then at the longest part of her wandering, leaves the warlocks in the center and walks across a naked stretch of earth before weaving through the cultists in their camps. I think if we could intercept her there, we have the greatest chance of taking her with the least amount of suspicion."

"Impressive, Wisthera." Onyxbane scratched the close cut beard on his chin. "But we're going to have to clear out the cultists in the nearest camp first. They form a kind of ring around the warlocks in the middle, and we can't even get that close unless they are out of the way."

"I can sheep a few of them as we go, to reduce the number of people we have to fight at any one time." Willypearl offered.

They all crouched behind a black pillar of rock not too far away from the camp. The priestess was shadowmelded nearby, keeping a lookout. Onyxbane was surprised at how well everyone was getting along, considering how he'd come close to sleeping with two women in the group who had good reasons to dislike each other, and the only other party member was a quiet young woman who'd seen far too much of Onyxbane's body and personality than he would have liked. But she seemed to have recovered pretty well from the other night.

"Well, we seem to be getting along well." Onyxbane observed hopefully.

"This is not the time Onyx." Willypearl snapped. Wisthera smiled a little and shot Onyxbane a knowing look that he tried to ignore.

"I believe that if Wisthera saps one man in the first camp, Willypearl can turn the other into a sheep, and then I can mind control the last. That way, we can focus on one enemy at a time." Everyone started at the young priestess who spoke up from the shadows. It was the most she'd said the entire trip, and she was so confident about it.

"I was about to suggest that I run in and—"

"No way, honey. Don't be a stupid warrior when it comes to this fight. You need to stay alive, so we're not taking any chances." Willypearl objected immediately to Onyxbane's plan.

"Yes, let us do what the priestess says. She must heal us afterall." Wisthera smiled and got to her feet. She was smiling quite a lot lately, and mostly in Onyxbane's direction. If Willypearl was annoyed about it at all, she didn't show it.

The first camp went well. Onyxbane ran in as soon as the first cultist, who was an orc in purple robes, was sheeped, and Wisthera successfully sapped the other one with her dagger. This one, a hammer wielding undead, bent over helplessly in a daze as Wisthera turned to help Onyxbane and Willypearl who fired away with frostbolts to keep the guy from running around. Then, they took care of the Undead, the person Willypearl had transformed into a sheep, and finally the novice priestess Windsong walked her mindcontrolled caster as far away from everyone else as possible, then let him go. Onyxbane and Wisthera were on him quickly, and with her stabbing him from behind and Onyxbane swinging his axe in the man's face, the last one went down fast.

At the next camp, Wisthera's sap missed, and she struggled with offtanking a rebel caster until the others finished up on Onyxbane's target. Perhaps Willypearl should have taken on the caster herself, since mages are best against other magic users, but Willypearl appeared to not have even considered it. Wisthera was swearing when it was done, but she couldn't accuse Willypearl of setting her up outright.

Then, they waited for Opalbane to approach.

"Why does she just wander in circles like that?" the novice priestess asked Wisthera.

Wisthera shrugged. "I think I overheard someone talking about how she was waiting for Zar'teaus."

"Who's that?"

"I'm not sure, but most likely it's an old god." Wisthera whispered back. Onyxbane raised a white eyebrow as he listened. "The Twilight Hammer devotes worshippers to various old gods. Perhaps Opalbane has been promised to the one they cal Zar'teus."

"Promised? That… doesn't actually sound bad." Onyxbane shrugged.

"Another way of saying that someone is engaged to be married in Common is to say that they've been promised." Willypearl grumbled. Onyxbane's eyes went wide and his knuckles went white from gripping his axe.

"Calm down, Onyx. We'll get her out of there before they do anything like that." Wisthera offered.

"She wouldn't agree to that!"

"You see how she walks; she's not herself and she has no choice. Now take care, she's coming close." The young priestess warned.

All the night elves, except for Willypearl shadowmelded because as a human, she couldn't. Instead, Willypearl waited for Opalbane to get into range. Opalbane looked nothing short of deadly. Her robes were a rich dark purple, but they glowed with the blue black shadow fire that burned off of her skin, through her clothes. The shadow did not harm her, but anyone who got too close could suffer a great deal. That was the most dangerous thing about shadowpriestesses, they weren't afraid of the darkest things in this world. Raised to heal and help others with the light, they saw the full truth of that holy power offered to them and rejected it completely. Their flesh burned, but that was of little concern to those who knew other horrors intimately and weren't afraid to use them to bend then break body, mind and soul.

Despite the fact that it was her friend before her, Willypearl bravely called up her polymorph spell. Then, rather comically, the tall darkly burning Night Elf turned into a smoky black sheep. Even forced into that form, Opalbane looked dangerous. Then, the novice Windsong blinked back into view as she called forth her most powerful holy fire spell, and Willypearl began to cast her most powerful fire spell that would light the ground ablaze. Onyxbane waited while Wisthera stealthed forward, and behind the sheep that was now his sister.

But, before Windsong's holy fire could hit, Opalbane dispelled the sheep from herself, and returned to her original form. Then, like lightning, she thrust a hand out to fragile Windsong and she arched her back screaming in pain. Onyxbane watched in horror as the vampiric embrace took hold of the unsuspecting novice, and she writhed in agony. Willypearl got her fire spell off just in time, and Opalbane visibly flinched as the flames shot up through her body. But she only flinched. The spell she cast on their inexperienced priestess restored Opalbane life even as they sought to weaken her. Weakening Opalbane would not be easy.

Walking slowly, purposefully, Opalbane thrust her hand out at Willypearl, hate full on her face, and the gentle mage recoiled back a step from the invisible burst of power.

"I've been silenced! I can't cast spells, and I'm useless to you now." Willypearl warned them, and took out her wand. But it was a mistake. Now, Opalbane knew that there were others there with the mage and priest who she could see. She turned away from Willypearl, searching for the inevitable rogue…

Wisthera broke stealth then and stunned Opalbane. "How much time do you need?" she shouted at Willypearl who shook her head. "The battle's over for me unless it lasts longer than it's supposed to."

Wisthera flipped her daggers around in her hand and they began to glow green with poison.

"Don't." Onyxbane warned her from where he was hiding, but it was too late. Wisthera stabbed just in time to get the slow poison into his sister, but then Opalbane arched her back and screamed. It was horrible, deafening, like when Priestess Feathershine had sent a psychic scream through Wisthera, Onyxbane, and all the sailors on deck weeks ago. Except for this time, no one had been warned to cover their ears, and even Onyxbane was startled out of his hiding place in the shadows. Everyone, even the suffering priestess Windsong was sent running, into the nearby camps, and the warlocks, and the orange crystal…

Opalbane watched them run, frowning darkly as she thrust her hands skyward and cast more painful spells on their little healer until she finally buckled and fell to the ground.

"Opalbane no!" Onyxbane panicked and charged out of the group of cultists he'd disturbed to his sister. He succeeded in stunning her for only a moment before she broke out of it and cast a painful spell on him as well. Onyxbane had good armor, and resisted a great deal of it, but it still hurt. After a time, he could not hide how he suffered and he cried out to his big sister,

"Opal! Stop! Sissy, please… I can't take it any more. You're killing me!"

Wisthera vanished, then came up behind Opalbane again, and tried to stun her once more. Opalbane was bent pathetically, enduring the rogue's desperate thrusts with the green bleeding daggers, when finally she broke free of the stun and cast another painful spell on Wisthera, who cried out, but could not stealth again to get away.

Willypearl cast useless after useless arcane missile from her magic wand that resembled a little tree branch. Her frost armor helped to slow down the attackers from the other camps who targeted her first, but it only worked when they came close enough, which meant the mage was taking far more physical damage than she was meant to. Willypearl was going to die as well.

And who would resurrect them when they failed? Their one healer was already gone.

"You will feel my master's wrath. Zar'teaus will feast on your worthless bodies on my wedding day." Opalbane spoke, but there were many voices coming from her, and she sounded like many terrible monsters were trapped inside of her, and trying to talk all at once.

The cultists fell upon the others, but when they tried to take down Onyxbane, the warrior, Opalbane screamed at them and they ran from the shadowpriestess in fear.

"Sissy, please…" Onyxbane pleaded. Opalbane seemed not to hear him though, and reached out her hand, fixated on his face.

"Why do you look like me?" She screamed at him in her many voices. It was painful to hear. "Do you mean to mock me?"

"No, I'm your brother Onyxbane. I love you."

"I do not know Onyxbane." She droned on, "I know only the great god Zar'teus. I will be his anon, and you will fail to keep him from me. I shall help him re-enter the world from the dark depths the Titans cast him to. And together, we will raze this ungrateful world…"

Onyxbane struggled to get to his sister, to hold her, and make her stop, but she thrust her hand out to him, and a thread of blue energy seared through his chest and leaped through the air into the palm of Opalbane's outstretched hand. As he walked, Onxybane slowed. Each step was more painful, the journey to his sister increasingly arduous. His life, draining… she would surely kill him, and then within days, the old god would destroy her. Finally, there would be none of their family left after even those two little ones survived the Sundering in Felwood all those years ago.


	14. Bears make good offtanks

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Fourteen:

"Sissy, please," Onyxbane cried, when at last he fell at his sister's feet. The pale Opalbane paused then, and stared at him. Her long braid hung over her shoulder, and she stroked it absently as she watched her brother bleed and die. His shining blue armor was covered in gray caked dirt, and the dark blood seeped through his clothes, from imbetween seams in his armor.

His hair was also white and braided, the way everyone in their family wore their hair.

"Onyxbane," Opalbane's shining white eyes widenend, and she bent down to tend to him, but it was too late.

All around them, his friends were dying. Willypearl screamed as a succubus appeared out of thin air and whipped her. Her flesh was opened, and her fine robes covered in blood, but she was no longer silenced. Courageously, Willypearl struggled to cast her frost spells. Wisthera was greatly impared without the ability to stealth, and she tried her best to slow the many enemies on her, but with each lunge and thrust of her daggers, they were closing in on her, and she losing energy. The priestess Windsong had not moved since she fell.

Onyxbane rolled over to look into his big sister's eyes as he faded, and thought at the end of his life, he was going mad when he thought he saw a large red arrow hovering over Opalbane's head.

Then, the purple burst of arcane energy ripped through his sister and she whirled around at the hunter who'd shot her.

"Bring her closer!" a familiar voice shouted. Who was it? She was beautiful… Elune herself coming for him at the end of his life…

Priestess Feathershine dismounted from her striped nightsaber and raised her hands high in the air above her head. Opalbane began her slow angry walk again, lifting her arm, and tried to flay the mind of the hunter who was attacking her, but it did no good, since he relied on distance from his enemy as his strength. The short stout dwarf fired another round into Opalbane as she neared, and at the final moment, a large roaring bear charged her, and ripped through her shadowshield, raking deep through her garments.

"Good boy, Smoke, now take her down! That's it!" the dwarf hunter shouted over his loud gun.

It worked. Opalbane was completely distracted by this simple beast who attacked her. The great secret about hunter pets is that they are stupid and expendable. The hunter kept shouting encouragement to his pet as it eventually weakened and groaned in agony, but one firm command from the little dwarf and the loyal gray bear renewed his efforts and kept raking Opalbane with his claws. Onyxbane watched through his haze as Feathershine used the distraction to cast golden shields on Willypearl and Wisthera and then healed them. Onyxbane felt himself get lighter, and realized he was being healed as well. He got to his feet, fixed on the vision of Priestess Feathershine, who singlehandedly turned the tide of the battle.

The dwarf hunter helping Feathershine put down his gun and knelt. He stretched both of his hands out, healing his pet with green energy as Opalbane savagely brought dark spell after spell upon the poor beast. Opalbane screamed with rage as she continued to strike and the bear continued to resist and elude her efforts at making him dead.

Onyxbane wondered how long the hunter's pet would hold out against his sister, when suddenly it flopped over. The hunter lifted his gun again, and surprisingly, hit Opalbane at close range, this time a fire shot that made her walk in helpless circles. Then, he ran.

"Kite her!" Priestess Feathershine yelled at the small dwarf.

"Already on it, miss!" he shouted back and brought Opalbane out of her daze with a concussive shot that slowed her down.

Onyxbane wondered if he should help when he realized that Priestess Feathershine had a plan already, and he was not part of it. Priestess Feathershine glowed golden as the light of Elune licked her sides like tongues of flame. She was casting a strong resurrection spell on Windsong.

When the girl revived at Feathershine's side, the full priestess called a holy spell down on the novice to buff her and then said, "Heal Onyxbane and the others! Hurry!"

The girl went off immediately, as if she'd never died at all.

Then, Priestess Feathershine turned to Opalbane.

Opalbane was very angry now, struggling after the hunter who ran very fast in the cheetah aspect, always escaping her reach. She'd tried to flay his mind several times to slow him down, but he was careful to stay out of range. And then, if she got too close, he would fire another concussive shot into Opalbane and force her to slow down again.

"Keep her off of me!" Feathershine shouted as blue power cracked the gray sky like lightning and jolted Opalbane. This burned off great deal of her life and mana. Immediately, the furious shadow priestess turned on Feathershine, but the hunter used another close range shot to keep her from casting, and then another burst of a purple shot forced Opalbane back on him. They continued like this several times, with Feathershine draining Opalbane's mana, and the hunter keeping Opalbane from attacking Priestess Feathershine while she casted.

_Help us with the others._ The novice Windsong alerted Onyxbane in his mind, and he had to stop watching the fight and join Wisthera and Willypearl.

They took down some of the cultists by focusing on one at a time, and with the combined damage of a powerful mage, rogue and warrior, many of the enemy were eventually felled. But, Windsong was running out of mana to heal them with.

That was when Onyxbane saw his sister again, normal for perhaps the first time in a long time.

"I will help you." She said woodenly, and jogged over to the group. She raised her arms and called down painful spells on many of the remaining cultists, and cast a vampiric embrace on one caster who seemed focused on Willypearl. As he took damage from the mage's powerful fire spells, the others felt renewed.

"I'm glad you're back sis," Onyxbane managed, and he tried not to hug her while they were fighting.

"This is Feathershine." Opalbane's mouth said, in a voice sweeter than Onyxbane could ever remember coming from his sister.

"Oh," he said, and glanced behind them. Priestess Feathershine had put a golden shield of light around herself, and had her slender fingers pressed to her temples, like she did back on the ship when she mind controlled Wisthera and made her apologize to Onyxbane. The dwarf hunter was busy bandaging his pet bear, who he'd already resurrected.

With a powerful one of their own to help, the cultists were caught off guard, and Feathershine was clearly reading Opalbane's mind to help with stopping runners, and rooting out those who might make trouble with them later. She'd let Opalbane regain mana for the fight, but forced her to drain it completely by the end of the battle. This took a while, because Opalbane had a significant mana pool.

When it was over, the dwarf hunter used his tracking skills to guide them all back to the road, and mounted up.

"Anythin' else?" the dwarf shifted weight easily in the saddle of his war ram. It had an intimidating red helmet that protected its head but allowed the enormous antlers to potrude out in front of the animal's face.

"No, thank you Gardrelle." Feathershine handed him a sackful of gold, and the hunter counted it.

"What happened to the army of Sentinels?" Willypearl asked.

"They would not approve it."

"Didn't need'em anyways as far as I kin tell." The dwarf hunter took the reins of his war ram in hand. "All ya needed was a good hunter." He bellowed in laughter.

Onyxbane frowned at that. He hated hunters, but after today, he was going to have to like them whether he wanted to or not.

"Thank you, for saving my sister's life."

"Thank Smoke for that. He kept me from havin' ta kill her. Did a fine job of keeping her out of the way, so you all could work."

Onyxbane's frown deepened. Of course a hunter would, after all that, attribute his success to a dumb pet. But he didn't dare insult the man now.

Opalbane was calm for now, and she even had a slight peaceful smile on her face. Onyxbane was a bit startled to see it, because his sister rarely ever smiled, because happiness for her was not casual.

Just as he was thinking it, Opalbane's guise changed, and her shadowform flared up. The novice Windsong ran to Priestess Feathershine's side, and steadied the older woman, who rubbed her temples, then dropped her hands to her sides. Opalbane immediately recovered.

"Dear sir, if you would be so kind as to escort us back to Cenarion Hold, there would be another hundred gold in it for you. We traveled across the world, and risked nearly everything for this precious girl, and I'd hate to lose her on a technicality."

The dwarf smiled wide. "Certainly." He said.

Once at Cenarion Hold, Priestess Feathershine had a noisy fight with the innkeeper, and threw more gold at some flustered guards until they finally let Opalbane have a room to herself. Once inside, Onyxbane watched as Priestess Feathershine carefully turned control of Opalbane's mind over to novice Windsong.

"You are a promising novice yet," Priestess Feathershine congratulated the girl. "Also, I sent word to the novices left behind in Darkshore to fly here directly. You will explain to them how to mind control in shifts. If there is any trouble at all, call me, and before you do that, attempt to drain her mana. Do this with all the novices present."

"Yes, Priestess."

Later, when night fell, and Cenarion Hold grew quiet, Onyxbane left off watching his sister sleep and went down the hall to see Priestess Feathershine.

"I don't even know where to begin… what you did was amazing… thank you so much." He knelt before her.

"Don't be silly dear. Your sister means the world to me as well. Here, have a seat." And Onyxbane sat nearby while Feathershine stood by the bed in her white night robes and combed her long waterfall of green hair.

"You should know that High Priestess Tyrande is very angry with me. In addition, I am going to bear the punishment for Wisthera's escape. Fortunately, Shadowstep spoke up and said he found no fault with Wisthera's actions."

"How is that fortunate?"

"Because Tyrande will not have to imagine a way to discipline me for that as well."

"You aren't in too much trouble are you?" Onyxbane winced.

"Yes, a great deal actually. I was accused of acting like I was Kaldorei nobility before the human courts of Stormwind, which, of course, does not exist. That is the whole reason that Tyrande created the Sentinels, guarding equality of our people through training an army from the enlightened and disciplined priesthood. And, every Kaldorei knows what happened to the last of us who thought they deserved to have special access to wealth and magic."

She referred to the Sin'Dorei, the High Elves, and most recently, some of them had begun to call themselves the Blood Elves. The reason didn't really matter. It was just another result of their estranged kinsman indulging in status and abusing magic.

"Well, at least Opalbane is safe. That was the whole point of this right?" Onyxbane asked.

"No, actually. Opalbane must still stand trial in Stormwind if we are going to end this without international incident. And now, beyond the money I've already got, we have no more influence, no more help, nor armies from Darnassus. Just the old boat we had before."

Onyxbane imagined his sister in the Stockades, after all she'd suffered through, and buried his head in his hands.

"Don't worry dear. Have faith and pray to Elune to show us the way. It would be very cruel for Opalbane to suffer only because I broke a few rules to save her. Even if all I could do was hire one good hunter of all the adventurers here in Silithus, we still managed to save her, did we not? I believe that we will be blessed in Stormwind as well."

Feathershine's voice was steady, but she looked near to tears. Onyxbane came up behind her and held her tight against him.


	15. Ok, now you can laugh

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Fifteen:

It turned out that another great way to keep Opalbane from reverting to her cultist self was to keep her drunk. Onyxbane was the one who thought of it. Priestess Feathershine appeared very disappointed and accused him of taking the situation too lightly, but he just snickered, and used a lot of her gold to purchase rum from the goblins in Gadgetztan before they continued on to Feralas, and eventually met the boat at Feathermoon Stronghold. Once again, traveling to Theramore Isle and from there to Menethil Harbor would have been faster, but Priestess Feathershine did not want to take any extra risks by going through Horde lands.

It took some time to water down the rum enough so that Opalbane wasn't a violent drunk, and more of the novices than not could sleep through the night. Once through Thousand Needles and Feralas, however, Priestess Feathershine insisted that Opalbane be allowed to sober up.

"There's already enough against her. She can't be allowed to smell like rum before the authorities in Stormwind a second time." She said.

Dutifully, and without incident, the novice priestesses went back to controlling her mind in shifts. That amazed Onyxbane. He'd fought in all kinds of battles, but never had he imagined that priestesses could be as disciplined as soldiers. Of course, Sentinels were the shining example of this, but well… they were Sentinels, and everyone knew how long they trained. Onyxbane didn't remember being half as focused when he was a young man, and the novices were content to watch Opalbane like clockwork, and never complained.

This set Onyxbane's curiosity on fire, and one night on the ship he decided at last that he wanted to get to know Priestess Feathershine better, no matter what.

"Priestess Feathershine? I don't mean to wake you, but I must talk to you."

Wordlessly, Priestess Feathershine opened the door for him. She was in her long white sleeping gown again. Normally, she wore a light mooncloth robe, but this garment was made of heavy white silk that clung to her generous curves. It had a strange quality of looking like it was always slick and wet. Onyxbane blinked, at the suggestion of a body that was clearly naked underneath then forced his eyes up the length of her, and settled on Feathershine's face.

"Yes dear?" she asked. The priestess sounded tired.

"You look beautiful." Onyxbane said. He was wearing simple slacks and a shirt, but in truth he always felt naked without the Reaper.

Feathershine raised her eyebrow at him. "Yes, this is a fact. I always look beautiful. That is the duty of a priestess of Elune, to reflect her grace."

"No, I mean…" how should he tell her that she was sexy? Feathershine didn't seem like someone who wanted to know that. She was an intelligent woman, and perhaps she wanted to talk about other things first, get eased into the idea.

"So how are you doing with Willypearl?" Feathershine sat down on the bed, and began to brush her long hair again. Onyxbane was dazed for a moment. The priestess' long hair was like any other woman's but the way she brushed it…

"Umm… Willypearl? Is that what you said? Well, I kind of messed things up with her."

"How? I thought you two were getting along." Feathershine frowned with her dark cherry round lips. Onyxbane ached. Was she always this alluring?

"No, she's engaged actually."

"I see. So you did the right thing. Dear, that's not your fault. She was misguided to pursue you in the first place."

Onyxbane nodded, but also started to wonder why Wisthera was the only one who'd guessed his reaction correctly: he really hadn't cared a bit that Willypearl was already taken.

"Ya, I did the right thing."

"And Wisthera's been wearing that insolent smile on her face since I captured her again in Silithus. She's never been so happy in my company, has she Onyxbane?"

Priestess Feathershine was not looking directly at him, just staring at the far wall while she pulled the delicate wooden brush through her hair.

"Huh? I guess not."

"Don't be coy, Onyxbane. I mean to ask if you slept with her."

This threw the young warrior off. "No! I mean… yes, I did."

"Why did you say no if you did, in fact sleep with her?"

"I… well, I wish I hadn't. Especially now."

"Why not now?" Priestess Feathershine finished with one lock of hair, and then pulled another from over her left shoulder and began to brush.

"I… found someone new." Onyxbane was starting to find flirting with this intelligent woman much harder than he first thought. Why wasn't she falling for him? Why was it taking so long to get right down to it?

"Did you? Don't tell me…" and at that Priestess Feathershine stopped brushing and smiled. "I have to say, the age difference—"

"Well, it's not so bad, right? I mean there's a lot you can learn from someone older than you."

"Surely, but the advantage you have really isn't fair—"

"Advantage? Well, I've had my share of romantic adventure on this trip, but I'm not… well I am pretty good I guess."

"Dear, don't be crude. I'm talking about life experience. She's not even a full priest yet."

That was when Onyxbane realized they were not talking about the same person.

"But… you _are_ a full priestess right?" Onyxbane should not have said that. He should have just waited quietly for Feathershine to move on, but he just wasn't able to think so quickly.

"Yes…what are you getting at? Novice Windsong will be a full priestess soon enough. She has proven herself more than capable, and when this is all over, I'll see to it quickly, especially since you show an interest."

Onyxbane's eyes went wide. "Oh, no, no no. Not novice Windsong." Again, he should have been warned because of the earlier awkwardness, but he pushed forward.

"No? Then who else could it be?"

Onyxbane tried to answer, and then,

"Dear, I suppose I shouldn't meddle so. I'm sorry. It's just that you are like a son to me, and I worry about you and your sister so. I believe it will take a miracle for Opalbane to make friends or fall in love, but not you. You are young and sociable, so you should have no trouble. You _do_ need to find a suitable woman though, and not Wisthera. It's a shame that Willypearl is practically already married. I so liked you two together."

"What?"

"Yes, I didn't want you to rush things, so I sent novice Windsong along. I'm sorry if my intentions were too obvious. And then that millet for brains Wisthera ran right off after you when my guard was down. I actually rushed down to Silithus to keep her away from you, but I see that I was too late for that. I'm just glad that I was able to locate and bribe those rogues in time to find you all."

"Wait, you talked to Wisthera's contacts too?"

"Yes dear. We're at the end of our little journey, so I can reveal my secret to you now. Never assume that you aren't being watched on my ship. The novices are very good at sneaking around, and enjoy gleaning gossip for me."

Onyxbane blinked. Good thing he hadn't spoken aloud to anyone about his crush on Priestess Feathershine. She didn't see him in the same way at all, and it would only end up in disaster. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Though I suppose it's my fault, you know. I never officially adopted you two, and perhaps that is why I am so protective. The other priestesses loved you and your sister just as much as I and it would have been a cruel thing to do." Then she put her brush on the dresser nearby. "You know, I don't think that matters anymore. You two are all grown up, and you need family more than anything else, don't you? I don't care what Tyrande says. I love you two like you were my own children, and it would be a great comfort—"

"No!" Onyxbane blurted out.

"No? Why not?"

"I can't… no way. That would be too weird. Woah. I almost got into trouble there, didn't I?"

Feathershine stared at Onyxbane a long time, sure that there was some deeper meaning in the confusing young man's words, and intent on fishing it out.

Then, "You… pervert!"

Onyxbane hopped up from his seat. "Now, hold on there I—"

"Never got around to putting your moves on me? Is that what you came in here to do? I should have known. Of course it wouldn't be Windsong, of course. You were talking about me the whole time, weren't you?"

Onyxbane balked, trying to find a sane answer. Of course, that was impossible.

"That's disgusting, Onyxbane, honestly! When you were little, that was one thing, but I thought you'd grown out of it when you left the temple."

"You knew about my dreams?"

"Of course! We priestesses gossip about everything, I just told you that!"

Onyxbane winced. "Well, it's not like I was hard up for you then. It was after I left, that I grew up a bit and figured out what those dreams meant—"

"Foul! Disgusting! Crude language! Directed at me? You pervert! I'm surprised at you Onyx, honestly!"

Onyxbane wanted to shadowmeld right then and there.

"So you come in here trying to romance me, is that it? Dearest, I love you like a son, so I think I can get over this with time, but… you had better keep some distance from me for a while."

"But Priestess—"

"You can't possibly have anything redeeming to say about your feelings. They have no place. I'm not even flattered by them."

"Priestess Feathershine, you're actually pretty sexy—"

"Enough! Do you want to know what I think you should do, young man?"

Onyxbane was afraid to speak.

"You should take that scoundrel Wisthera and lock yourselves in a room for as long as it takes. I thought you were different, but really, you two are cut from the same cloth. Perhaps once you get this nonsense out of your system, you can think clearly."

"But—"

"Get out! And, I'll advise the ladies to lock their doors. You have quite a lot more growing up to do, and it's a long boat ride. I hope I don't have to warn you to stay away from my novices."

Completely embarrassed, Onyxbane slammed the door behind him. Feeling pretty low, he knocked on Willypearls' door.

She opened it. "You? What do you want, Onyx?"

"Well, I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted, mind if I come in?"

"Oh, no, you get away from me. This is hardly the time of night honey, hardly the place for decent conversation between friends." Then she slammed her door.

Onyxbane passed by Wisthera's door on the way to his own cabin. He paused there, wondering if he should knock, then didn't. Just when he got to his own door, Wisthera snatched hers open and laughed at him.

"So you asked her, didn't you?" she roared with laughter.

"Leave me alone, Wisthera." Onyxbane grumbled.

"You _are_ mine, aren't you? Don't fight it. There's no other woman left on this ship for you. We've all been warned." She said, and tapped her head with a finger. Of course, Feathershine would take his embarrassment a step further and send a mind vision to every woman on the ship.

Onyxbane went directly to bed, and drew the covers up over his head. This was unbelievable luck. But, at least now he was sure that the humans and dwarves and everyone else were wrong about one thing. God was definitely a woman.


	16. Azerothian justice is confuddled

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Sixteen:

_Week Ten of our Journey:_

_I'd better explain about my take on Opalbane's trial before I get to it. The courts in Stormwind are different from the way we do justice in Darnassus. For example, when I asked Feathershine to help with Willy's situation three months ago, she could only extract Wisthera. Willypearl is a human and Stormwind wanted to deal with her personally. When Wisthera was turned over to Feathershine's custody, she took her into a little room in the Temple of Elune, and they had a chat. And… I mean a chat. No intimidation or threats of violence. No shackles or plucking of hairs from her head until she told the truth. Priestesses have no trouble getting the truth out of people because they can always use a mind vision to see what the person did or didn't do. What the priestesses of Elune are mostly concerned with is how the culprit feels about the truth. A convicted individual who is found innocent can be punished as well, if they haven't grasped a certain moral value yet. My guess is that Feathershine looked into Wisthera's head, saw how she scammed Opalbane, Willypearl, and finally me, on top of all those other people in her past and saw that she wasn't very repentant. That would explain why Priestess Feathershine made Wisthera help us to save Opalbane as a punishment, and take up leatherworking. If Wisthera was fully aware of how she hurt people, I think Feathershine would have just let her go. Oh, and Priestess Feathershine had to tell Shadowstep about Wisthera because, as one of the rogues in the Cenarion Enclave, she answers to him. I think the same kind of thing happened with him and Wisthera. Shadowstep most likely threatened her, or maybe had the information about Wisthera's past already, and then decided her fate. I'm very annoyed that both Priestess Feathershine and Shadowstep found Wisthera innocent. Shadowstep even gave her a new assignment as a pat on the back._

_But Stormwind works a lot different. The nobility and the army officers work together sometimes and sometimes they don't. I find it confusing, but I think it has something to do with how important people are. Now that I think about it, I should have been wary of all the paladins who kept speaking on Willypearl's behalf at her trial. Those must have been Elec's important family members. But, in that situation, what really tipped the scales in our favor was Wisthera's testimony before the judges. The nobles and officers present knew that they were hearing from someone that the Cenarion Enclave trusted, someone that a Priestess of Darnassus sent an impressive boat and guard all the way across the ocean for. Also, I think they didn't want to disregard what Wisthera said because they didn't know Priestess Feathershine very well and they didn't want to get on her bad side, which could mean upsetting someone as high up as Tyrande, if not Shadowstep or any other friends she might have. _

_But that was then._

_It's been three months since Willypearl's trial, and the people in Stormwind clearly know a lot more about Priestess Feathershine and Wisthera than before. It seems that gossip travels fast among leaders of the Alliance as well as busy body priestesses. Anyways, word got out that High Priestess Tyrande made an example of Feathershine, chastising her in all the right circles as someone who did not uphold the correct values of the Kaldorei. The judges in Stormwind kept saying over and over, "She put status and personal ambition before equanimity and truth." That basically means they think Feathershine is a liar. I don't think High Priestess Tyrande said that exactly, but she would have wanted everyone to know that Feathershine was abusing her power as a priestess. _

_Also, my blowing Wisthera's cover in Silithus sent ripples through the rogue community as well. And I can tell you, however much Wisthera says that she loves me and wants me back, I think she's still mad at me. Our little indulgence in Silithus helped calm Wisthera, but I have a good feeling that as soon as she's sure I've come back to her, she's going to beat me over the head with how I ruined her career. It turns out that maybe my selfish use of secret information might go even further than upsetting Wisthera though. If priestesses are known as gossips, then the leaders of the Alliance are far worse, but rogues definitely take the cake. I bet that everyone who ever met or heard of Wisthera had something to share when people started talking about how she ruined an assignment for Shadowstep. Wisthera complained to us all that now, SI:7 is buzzing with all kinds of wild stories about her past. It seems like a combination of things she did very well or regretted, but I think with rogues, many good and bad things fall into both categories. Also, tons of people who got their toes stepped on by Wisthera over the years are coming forward. That's some nasty revenge._

_So, our plan to let Wisthera show the judges all the letters she got from Willypearl and Opalbane over the years won't work. Normally, letters are very good at showing how someone never intended to do something, especially letters that are sent to personal friends, or secret third parties that have nothing to do with the situation. But, it is well known that good forgers exist, and there is no reason for anyone to believe that Wisthera didn't forge the letters between her and Opalbane. They're also saying that we took too long to bring back my sister. "Why didn't you go to Theramore Isle?" they keep asking over and over again. And they also want to know why we stopped in Darkshore on the way to Silithus, and on the way back, which means the Stormwind Authorities think we had some help from Shadowstep and the others covering up for Opalbane. _

_My sister has been feeling better, and she's begun to say what I was thinking on the way back here, that she was safer with the cultists. Maybe it's mostly the fel mana talking, and the effects of their trying to initiate her, but Opal has a good point. A Twilight Hammer cultist at a camp in Silithus is much safer than a Twilight Hammer Cultists that everyone knows is in Stormwind. They'd sooner hang her than clear her name. Priestess Feathershine fears that those who manipulated Opalbane might also be agitated by her presence, and go on defensive in the extreme. Anyone affiliated with the cult in Stormwind will do everything he can to cover his tracks, which makes it a lot harder for us to peg the blame on someone else other than my sister. Though Wisthera's contacts in Silithus say Opalbane walked to the camps of her own free will, Shadowstep and the others have sources that say she was coerced into it her whole life. But, if people are more eager to listen to the gossip on the streets, than the careful recounting of professional spies, what chance do we have? Oh, yes, and before I forget, the Archmage is completely hostile towards us now. Willypearl might have been spared, but now that he knows Tyrande does not favor Priestess Feathershine, he is eager to push the blame onto someone who is already in trouble, and make her into a scapegoat. It seems he really wasn't happy with our accusing him of corruption three months ago, no matter how nicely Wisthera put it._

_In all honesty, things look very bad. If I thought my love life couldn't get any worse, with Priestess Feathershine and Willypearl not speaking to me, Wisthera the liar banging down my door, and my sister in no state of mind to give me advice, I was wrong. It can get far worse. I could lose everything, including my sister. And to further complicate things, now it seems, at the end of the world, I find that I do care about what happens to Wisthera. I've started to worry about her too. There are enemies all around us._

_Now, this is a worse mess than what we started with. At least if you chip your weapon, you can sharpen it. Or, if there is a fault in the blade, you can get new bars of aracanite and try hammering them again. But this is life. In a lot of ways (but not very many) it's more amazing than the Reaper. It happens only once, and perhaps not for very long, and as a Kaldorei I get the tragedy behind this better than anyone else. _

_We might not make it._


	17. He's a journal jock

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Seventeen:

The nobles and officers could not agree on what to do, and the trial went on far longer than it should have, with so much at stake. Opalbane could take the fall, yes, and then the Archmage would be free of blame. But then, even Tyrande would have to live in a world where all of the Alliance knew that a star priestess of Elune had fallen to the Twilight Cultists. And then, the rogues were happy to roast Wisthera over an open pit, but Shadowstep was very aware that there were people in the Horde who'd caught wind of his secret investigation of suspected Twilight Cultists among the leaders of the Alliance. He would have to invest in silencing the matter quickly before his enemies heard too much from the echoes of the trial in Stormwind. In the end, it was not a matter of whether or not justice would be served. Priestess Feathershine understood very well that the people in charge wanted to find a solution that would keep everyone looking good. They'd tried to peg a scapegoat in Willypearl a few months ago, but that hadn't worked. Now, they were leaning heavily on Opalbane, and Wisthera's poor reputation was making it very easy. But the Kaldorei responsible for these ladies would have them fall only so far. That is why Priestess Feathershine rounded up the people in her party and went to the man with the most at stake in the matter, determined to set things right.

"…So, as you can see honorable Archmage, this was all a grave misunderstanding. We did not mean to imply any lack of judgment on your part, only show that Opalbane and Willypearl were imprisoned by mistake. Surely, we can just dismiss this whole thing."

"I think not!" the Archmage looked at Priestess Feathershine like she had two heads, and then balked at Onyxbane, Wisthera, and Willypearl who were standing behind her. Of course, there were a few doe-eyed novices as always. "You've made a mockery of the Mages of Stormwind. That is unforgivable."

"We're not poking fun at anything, Archmage. It was a mistake, I accept that. I just wanna move on with my life. Opalbane is a good friend, and I want her to be able to move on too." Willypearl said.

"Where is Opalbane? You've brought this circus to my doorstep, but not the ringleader? That's a sorry performance." The Archmage leaned back in his elaborate wooden chair, and flicked his wrists so that the long red sleeves of his robe fell outside the armrests. His office was filled with elaborate furniture and rich dark colors that smacked of wealth and power.

"As I said before the other judges, Archmage, Opalbane is not well at all. She is suffering because of what the cultists did to her. It would be shameful to her family as well as a disgrace to the court for them to see her the way she is."

"Am I to believe that she is suffering if I haven't seen her?"

"I should think that you would honor the accounts of her health that your priests make at the Cathedral of Light." Feathershine admonished. "They are doing everything they can to heal her. It's a disease of her mana, you see, and being around all that fel energy and under the influence of the old gods crystallized in Silithus—"

"Enough of that! You're intimate knowledge of the Twilight Hammer is most offensive, priestess."

"Dear sir, we Kaldorei know more about the old gods than anyone else in Azeroth, and it is our business to know whether or not our world remains safe."

"Save the trolls, priestess. I hear there is not much difference between Night Elves and those wretched creatures who built altars to the old gods." That insult hit home and caused all the Night Elves in the room to draw startled breaths.

"This is nonsense!" Wisthera spoke up. "We all know what is really going on here. You do not want to get in trouble, nor do the priests in Stormwind or Ironforge, or anywhere else that Opalbane went and found difficulty. You know that Shadowstep has viable evidence against you."

Already, the Archmage was shaking his head, denying it.

"I speak for everyone here when I say that I do not care if you are guilty! It is of no consequence… we only ask that you stop torturing someone who never deserved it. If you let Opalbane go, let it all go, and cease having these pointless conventions, then no one will have to suffer this way again. That would be the end of it." Wisthera continued.

"You will not trick me into saying that I've done something that I did _not_ do, rogue."

Wisthera threw her hands up in the air, exasperated.

Priestess Feathershine flew into another speech about forgiveness when the Archmage abruptly stood up behind his desk and raised a hand for silence.

"That is quite enough. I can tell you care for the young lady, but I've read all the correspondence, along with the reports from Stormwind. Whether it was in the letters Willypearl sent to Opalbane, or in notes the ladies shared with Wisthera over the years, or observations from SI:7 that prove Opalbane went to Silithus of her own accord… all if it shows that this young lady, was in fact an agent of dark evil, however hard this is to hear. I must act accordingly. Now, please, go."

"My sister is not like that." Onyxbane firmly objected though the others had turned to leave. "She's a loving person, though unkind, and yea, she can be really creepy at times. But she's angry about losing our parents, and having no friends… despite our coming here, I bet she's still lying in that bed in the Cathedral of Light, convinced that no one loves her, because someone wanted her to believe it. All of us here, in this room did everything in our power to make her see differently, but there are horrible people out there with more power than we have… it's not her fault."

"Nor is it yours, young man. Nor is it mine. But it _is_ your sister's."

"But I can prove it." Onyxbane objected.

The Archmage sighed. "How, in Azeroth, are you going to achieve that? I've read everything there is to read, talked to all the other judges already, and frankly, your insistence is pressing me to rule here and now. This is exhausting."

Onyxbane took the little book he had out from where it was lodged in his belt and put it on the Archmage's large mahogany desk.

"It's… a journal. My journal. I wrote down everything I knew and learned, every day that we were gone. It shows that my sister has a real personality problem, and a drinking problem, but that she isn't a true agent of the Twilight Hammer."

Wisthera was looking at Onyxbane, amazed. "You don't have a journal! You don't like to write."

"No, I don't, but I kept one anyway. I saw how important those letters Wisthera had were to freeing Willypearl, and I thought maybe I could do the same for my sister."

"Or, you had enough time to write it all on the ship over here. I'm not going to waste my time reading this elaborate forgery."

"It's in ink, so you can see that some passages are more faded and were written weeks earlier than others. The part in pencil is because I had to trade my ink with a druid in Silithus."

Curious, the Archmage opened the book and began reading.

"It shows that we had no time to make up anything at all. We were constantly running here or there, never docking for very long. Yes, I had ample time on the ship, but… well, I was busy with other things. My own problems got in the way of me doing anything so clever."

The Archmage seemed fixed on one page in particular, but had to make himself stop reading with an effort. "This may all be very interesting, but I don't see how it helps your sister. Beyond that, it's completely biased coming from you."

"Maybe, but it's the truth, and anyone who reads it will see that we're not covering for Opalbane because there's nothing to cover. She had a hard life, and we had a heck of a time figuring that out for ourselves. But that's all."

The women in the room hadn't any words for the warrior who was supposed to be a meathead and pervert, but hardly a hero.

"I want a copy of that for Darnassus." Feathershine said quickly, stepping forward.

"And I'll have one made for the Library in Stormwind, don't worry. But none of that is very important if this is useless." The Archmage warned.

"Well, it isn't. Actually, it's pretty damn embarrassing, and I can't believe I'm really showing it to someone else."

"I thought that was always your intention, Onyxbane." The Archmage thumped the tattered journal with his knuckle.

"Maybe that's how it started out, but I think I'm going to regret being so honest now." He frowned, and Feathershine, Wisthera, and Willypearl looked horrified.


	18. The dirtiest mind in all of Azeroth

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Eighteen:

It didn't take very long. The Archmage summoned them all back to his office two days later, but made Wisthera, Priestess Feathershine, and Willypearl wait outside.

"Young man," the Archmage fumed. "You have, perhaps the dirtiest mind I have ever come across in all my years working with novices. And, more to the point, you are not a novice warrior, but an accomplished professional, and I can see no reason for you chasing these women the way you did. Nor can I… believe that they can still care for you or stand your presence at all after what you did in Menethil, Silithus, and…" the Archmage had a hard time pegging the last incident.

Onyxbane sighed. "It was on the ship from Darkshore to Darnassus. And thank you for reminding me."

"By the Light, I've never met someone with such a remarkable career who was able to outrace his perversion, keeping it so far from anything he ever did. I spent the first day with this book, just reading, and re reading." The Archmage said, his eyes getting wide. "I was convinced this was the truth on the first day, because no man in his right mind would include such self-deprecating things in a forgery for the authorities of Stormwind to hold forever as evidence."

At that, Onyxbane winced. "On the second day, I had as much research done on you as possible, and found you a dazzling specimen of a warrior, with not a blemish on your record at all. I'm especially impressed with what you did for us in Westfall. But according to this book, you were intimately involved with all the women in your party who are now being found at fault. Yet, somehow you escaped having your name darkened."

"It certainly wasn't on purpose Archmage!"

"Oh, no it wasn't, you're right. From what I can tell, this journal was a last resort for you, and I don't blame you at all for hesitating to use it. It was… damn embarrassing, as you said."

"So, you believe me? Can my sister go free now?"

"Now, wait just a minute. We'll have to clear some smaller matters up first, but I think the ambassador to Darnassus can help with most of that. And as far as my reputation is concerned, I'll have to keep holding the Conventions of the Cloth Classes of the Alliance for a few more years so that no one can link their ending to any guilt on my part. But I will certainly modify the activities at those meetings. Perhaps one of the gnomes could come up with something more useless to fill the time. In fact, I'll turn it over to them completely and let the gnomes just run it into the ground. Then everyone will be begging for me to end it."

"By the Light of the Moon!" Onyxbane cheered. He was a modern kaldorei in human lands, but he _had_ prayed to Elune for this outcome, and it felt more than right now.

"Don't celebrate yet. There is one more thing I need to know, and I won't allow you to leave until you tell me."

"Sure, whatever it is, it's all yours."

"Who are you going to choose for your Wreathe Day? That's what it's called isn't it? Not that you have much choice now after all that fouling it up, but I just have to know how this ends."

Onyxbane smiled wide. "I have to talk to my sister first, sir."

"Oh, you're just toying with me. A man as capable as you _must _have some idea."

"No, I'm very serious about this. I always talk to her, or write when I'm really stuck on something. In a way, my life can't go on until Opal is free."

"I see. But don't go telling anyone that I dropped the charges against your sister because I wanted to know how this all turns out. That is _not_ the reason anyways, you see."

"Of course not." Onyxbane smiled.

"Oh, and I'm keeping the original. But I had a third copy made for you."

"You're not being entertained by my misfortune, are you Archmage?"

The Archmage only laughed at Onyxbane's expense and called the ladies into the room to announce the good news.


	19. Sissy settles things

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Nineteen:

Opalbane did not smile when Onyxbane told her she was free. She sat in silence for a long time, and then her head lilted back slowly. Her gaze fixed on the ceiling and she no doubt said a silent prayer of thanks. His pale sister was white where Onyxbane was a pale blue. Both had long braided white hair. Onyxbane's twin locks fell over both his shoulders, but Opalbane had only one long braid that she always wore over her right shoulder, never down her back the way the dwarves did. On her face were black markings, like tiger stripes that accented the slant of her glowing eyes. Her mouth was dark as well, but her perfect lips never smiled. Though she seemed exhausted, at least this wasn't the angry shadowpriestess who stood over brother, enjoying how he died at her feet. Onyxbane did not wait for his sister to show emotion. He didn't care if she was in too much pain to move or speak. He got up from his stool beside the bed and hugged her.

Slowly, after much hesitation, Opalbane reached her arms across her little brother's wide back and hugged him too.

"I love you sissy. I'm glad you're back."

"As am I, Onyx."

He sat back down. "How do you feel?"

"I am alright. The priests here use the blue candles around the room to burn off my fel mana. My mana was tainted when I joined the cultists. I would compare it to having a cold. First, the cold must be defeated before the body can recover. And, in a way, the candles help to teach my body that the fel mana is not the proper mana for me, and it will be forced to regenerate the pure reserves I once had."

Onyxbane nodded eventhough he wasn't fully sure he understood. "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better."

"You want something from me. Tell me what it is."

To anyone else, Onyxbane might have denied it, but this was his sister. She knew him best. Also, she was being very polite about it. There are about a million other mean ways she could have put it.

"Alright, so I have this problem…" Onyxbane sighed. "I feel like I've finally reached a point in my life where I want to settle down, but I'm not sure whom to pick."

"You have a choice?" Opalbane managed without much sarcasm, but Onyxbane caught how she insulted him and laughed for the both of them.

"Yes, sis. I actually have choices now. Maybe you sensed some of the tension on that boat—"

"Indeed. Most of it came from Priestess Feathershine."

"Ya, about that, I—"

"It was cute when you were five years old, but not any longer. Leave it be." Opalbane said simply, the corners of her mouth delving into disappointed frown. Onyxbane instantly felt better. His sister was very direct, and he needed that.

"Ok, so there's that. Next is Willypearl. It turns out that she's been in love with me for years but I didn't know that and—"

"Onyx, I don't want you bothering Willypearl. She has a good thing going with a paladin named Elec. Don't be an imbecile by destroying that for her."

"You know about Elec?"

"Yes. We exchanged letters, remember? She is my friend. And yes, I knew she had feelings for you."

"She told you?"

"No, but it was obvious."

"Well, I'm glad that you finally understand that she really cares about you."

"Yes, it did take some time, and a vampiric embrace spell on a few hapless Stormwind Guards some months ago, but eventually, I discovered her true intentions."

"Okay, and the last woman you know. Please don't hate me because of this. I went after Wisthera, eventhough you told me not to, and—"

Opalbane started laughing. It wasn't a sound Onyxbane was used to hearing, and it was so girlish, so unlike her that he started to wonder if laughs aged. This laugh hadn't been used since his sister was a child in Felwood.

"You tried to capture Wisthera, the rogue, and she eluded you, didn't she? And in the worst possible way, I take it."

Onyxbane began to object, but his sister insisted, "You silly prancing male elf. You believed that after she fooled me and Willypearl, that you could outwit her? And _you_ of all people."

"Hey, I'm getting tired of people saying us warriors don't have brains."

"Dear brother, I never said you did not have a brain in your head. I only mean that you aren't clever enough to try and use it." Then Opalbane smiled cruelly.

Onyxbane shivered. "Now, you eventually found her, and I say eventually because you did not have much to go on. That in itself is to be commended, but then you had a tryst and fell in love by mistake?"

"Yes, I guess that's how it went."

"You know, I like Wisthera."

Onyxbane gagged a little. "What did you just say?"

"I like her. She fooled me, but for a good reason. How clever. And she took advantage of Willypearl, which is easy, but failed to get on her bad side… unless I am reading the situation incorrectly?"

"Well, Willy did say she was annoyed with Wisthera, but never that she hated her."

"An impressive con artist. And you of all people should hate her the most, but you do not. You are taken with her."

"I _want_ to hate her so much, but it's soo hard." Onyxbane whined like a little boy. His sister laughed again.

"Oh Onyx. Life is not so simple. You love who you love. It is for Elune to know if the person you love will die, or desert you, or turn into a wisp. That you cannot help. But, what you can do, with the mortal lives we've been given, is love that person as fiercely as you can, while you can. You do love her, don't you? Or is this something purely sexual?"

"Umm…" Onyxbane floundered. "Well, she is very hard to resist, and I can't stop thinking about her."

"Yes or no, Onyx." Opalbane rolled her eyes.

"No, it's more than that. I can't get enough of her because… I want her so bad. I need her in my dreary life."

"I thought so." Opalbane said simply, and folded her hands in her lap.

"What should I do? I've really hurt her, ruined her career, made her answer to Priestess Feathershine and crawl through the sands of Silithus with a scorpid stinger in her foot."

"I take it she hates you then?"

"No, actually, she said I could come back whenever I want."

Opalbane stared at her brother for a long time, and then shook her head slowly. "I don't understand you men."

"But I can't do it _that_ way. She'll think that she owns me."

"But she said the opposite."

Onyxbane blinked in surprise but then he remembered that his sister was a priestess who could read his mind afterall. Opalbane winced and rubbed her head.

"I should not have done that. The candles are punishing me for using my mana right now."

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize to me. Are you a man or not?" she demanded.

"Umm… yes?" Onyxbane felt his sister flaring back up again, and it reminded him of his frightening childhood with her.

"Then go and get her you IDIOT!"

Onyxbane flinched, but then smiled. What a wonderful sister he had. But when he reached over to hug her again, she slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me, you buffoon! Go now!" and she pointed at the open doorway.


	20. Stormwind is for lovers

**The Romancer Onyxbane**

Episode Twenty:

For her wreathe, Onyxbane chose Wisthera's namesake. The florist in the park thought he was mad, but Onyxbane insisted.

"What are you going to do with all of it? You know, too much wisteria is poison if you start eating it."

"I don't care. I like her poison."

The florist let the conversation end with that. He leaned a ladder against the brick wall of his shop and clipped bunches of the flowers off the thick bark vine that consumed the side of the building. Onyxbane was very picky about the delicate purple flowers that grew in bunches like grapes, but the florist obliged him. When it was all done, he wrapped the wreathe in dark green ribbon, keeping in mind Onyxbane's description of Wisthera.

Now all he needed was the woman herself.

As the afternoon sky turned to evening, and rose colored light rested on the buildings of Stormwind and the purple rooftops of the park, it became very clear that Wisthera had planned to make a fashionable entrance. Or, rather, Onyxbane saw it as making him suffer.

But when she arrived, he decided it was well worth the wait.

Wisthera had cast aside her crude leather armor, and had selected a bright blue silk dress, the color of dawn. It had no sleeves and a low neck that exposed her bosom and then delved even lower to show off her stomach. She walked calmly, and with a purpose. Her hips swayed softly with every step, and though the thin soft fabric stayed in place, parts of Wisthera moved underneath it, and it looked like she might actually come out of the dress. Wisthera certainly attracted attention in her revealing gown because there were men milling about her when she came into view. Perhaps they'd been chatting her up since she passed through the Trade District. But, Wisthera paid them no mind. When she neared Onyxbane she smiled, for him alone, and he took her hand and kissed it.

To the men bothering his girlfriend he said. "Have you ever seen an Arcanite Reaper?"

The guys were confused by the polite offer, but eagerly settled on no.

"It's a great big sharp axe, about this big that I'm going shove up something sensitive if you don't GET AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND!"

And they ran away like frightened sheep.

"Oh Onyx." Wisthera smiled and wrapped her arms around him. But, that gentle hug turned into something else rather quickly. She kissed him hard, pulling him down to the ground because of the height difference. Then, when we has nearly on his knees, Wisthera's hand swept up and she slapped the backside of his head. "Don't you ever, ever ruin an assignment for me again, do you hear?" then her tone changed back to adoration, "I love you, I do, and I'd do anything for you, I'd even kill for you," and then it changed right back, "But I'll kill _you_ if you ever make Shadowstep angry with me again."

"Ow." Onyxbane grimaced and got back to his feet.

As soon as he was recovered, Wisthera drew him into her arms again and said, "There, I'm all done with my anger. Now we can get to the best part about this day," and she began to kiss him passionately again.

"Umm, Wisthera, don't you want to wear the wreathe at least? It's kind of the whole point."

She giggled and let him place it on her head. "Would you like to be my wife one day, if it pleases Elune?"

"Yes, that might be nice." And Wisthera hadn't improvised at all. The word 'might' was part of the traditional response.

The pale purple was perfect against her ivy hair. The baby blue dress accented her skin. Together, all her features made Wisthera seem the very image of calm, made up entirely of cool tones. She had become a soothing woman, unlike the blazing fire that tortured them all on their journey.

"So that is what you look in a dress." Onyxbane smiled. Wisthera turned a circle for him to see and Onyxbane loved it.

"Now, let's get to our room." She tried to pull Onyxbane away, but he made her stop.

"No, Wisthera. We've both been waiting for this for months. Let's enjoy it. We have the rest of our lives to please each other, but only today is just for us."

They enjoyed The Park. Onyxbane tried to make clever comments about the moonwell there, but Wisthera turned it into another make out session. Next, he took her to the very public Trade District, but they ended up kissing there too, in front of the crowds. And the throngs of people at the Auction House and Bank stopped what they were doing and clapped for them.

Next was the Mage's Sanctum, and for some reason, Withera insisted on passing by the Stockades.

"You see him there?" Wisthera pointed inside to a guard absorbed in the commotion coming from the prison level just before him.

"Yes love, what is it?"

"He grabbed my butt when they put me down there. Wasn't that a stupid thing to do to _your_ girlfriend?" She watched, entranced, as Onyxbane flushed with hot anger.

"I'll be right back, love." He said, and walked inside the entrance to the high security prison. Wisthera ran after him though. She wanted to see this.

"Excuse me sir, but have you ever seen an Arcanite Reaper…"

That night all of Stormwind was their oyster. Onyxbane and Wisthera wandered in and out of the various districts, daring to revisit places they missed when they left, as if it were all a great carnival. They had dinner at the Blue Recluse, climbed the winding ramp to the Wizard's Sanctum twice to look at the stars, gave gold to little boys with a boat to row them up and down the Canals while they kissed and the young boys giggled and pointed. Finally, it got so dark that the great city would transform into a dangerous place if they stayed out much longer.

On a bridge spanning one of the canals, Wisthera stopped Onyxbane in his tracks and wrapped her arms around him. "Now," she said, nestling into his wide chest, "we can go to bed. It will not be our first time, but I promise it will be something you will never forget." Then, she looked up at him. "Maybe I am too eager, and it's ruined our day, but it is just that I am so happy, Onyx." She caressed the side of his face with the back of her hand. "When I found you, I found my night in shining armor. I found a man with morals, who could understand me despite myself. And if that wasn't enough, after all we went through, you forgave me. I did not deserve your forgivness, or your love, but you did love me didn't you? I truly never thought you would ever care for me again, and that's why kept talking about us like we were already back together. I could not bear to think of it any other way."

Onyxbane smiled sadly. "I didn't know you felt that way. You seemed so sure—"

"I wasn't." Wisthera pouted. "I was terrified. I've always been able to charm my way out of things, but you… you saw right through that. In the end, there were no games, I had not tricks up my sleeve. I gave up acting and started fighting for us. I meant all those things I said back in Silithus. I would kill for you, I'd do anything for you. I'm crazy for you… it's an addiction, it's maddening, but I don't want it to end. You own me. You own my heart, my body, my spirit. What happens to you happens to me. I never want to endanger your heart or your family again."

Onyxbane held his girlfriend, on their Wreathe Day, and looked into her shining eyes. In the dark, quiet city, it felt like they were the only two people in the world.

"I'm glad you finally understand."

"And you understand as well, that I'm not perfect. No woman is, Onyx. Is that enough for you?" she worried.

"Yes, my beautiful Wisthera." He said and kissed her gently. "Now, I'm going to take you home and we can celebrate what real love is."

Author's note:

This was my first fanfic! If you've made it this far, thanks for reading :)

Oh, and there is a continuation to this, so stay tuned.


	21. Next in the Series

Order of current and forthcoming stories in The Romancer Series:

The Romancer Onyxbane

The Romancer Greatfather Winter

The Romancer Opalbane

The Romancer Shadowstep


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